The Third Opponent
by KaFae
Summary: John finds out that he isn't fighting just against Skynet. There is another Opponent in the mess that no one had thought about. Starts at the very beginning but has quite a few differences than the show. The story also delves into a JohnxCam relation.
1. A New Start

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters**

Notes: Those of you that really like starting from only cannon material I going to warn you that I have changed a large amount in the Terminator Universe. I wanted a John who instead of being like the John in the show is one who became obsessive and embraced who he will become. I am really tired of all the weak, sissy John Connor's out there. Also, this story is going to get a bit wild in places.

I'm also planning on just making quick chapters instead of really large ones like I have done other places. I want to get a nice and regular update schedule. So with that in mind have fun reading.

I have make quite a few typo fixes and spelling corrections. So, if you have read this chapter before you don't have to look at again. I was just fixing some issues I found with it.

* * *

**2027 – Tech-Com Time Displacement Facility**

"John is everything ready with her yet?"

John, looked at the Major with a bit of annoyance. The Major didn't seem to understand that all of their hopes relied on this one and very special machine. He had worked with a drive and commitment close to suicidal to get her altered and configured to his exact needs.

"I'm just double checking her."

"Well hurry up, we have to get out of here ASAP before everything goes to hell. It won't be long before the machines notice the large power buildup around here."

"Alright."

John, turned and looked at who he was sending back and she stared back without any expression. He sighed and put away the diagnostic tool and figured that he had done all he could. It was now all up to her.

"Cameron, do your best."

"I will."

"Ok, everyone lets get out of here," John yelled to everyone and as they were running John stayed just long enough to wave a final goodbye to her as she vanished in a blue sphere. He was happy he stayed because he was rewarded with a small smile from her and John hoped that they would never meet again in this timeline.

**1999 – Albuquerque, New Mexico**

Cameron suddenly had the sensation of falling and ended up landing on her back. If she had been a regular person they would have been seriously injured from the fall, but for her it was a mild surprise. Apparently, the time displacement facility was at a higher elevation than the ground is now in the future she concluded.

**#Execute system diagnostic  
:No problems detected. Time displacement successful.**

Cameron got up and looked around and a quick cycle through her infrared and nightvision optics confirmed that nobody was present. She looked up to examine the sky and based on the position of the stars determined that she had arrived on June 2, 1999 and it was 4:40am give or take 30 minutes. It was good enough but she wondered if the Skynet time displacement devices could be off by a few months as well.

From the landscape she determined that she was near some sort of industrial area and where she currently was appeared to be a cement plant. There was a building close by where she could try to find some make shift clothes.

The building proved to be rather successful as it turned out to be a contractors that he was apparently living out of. Unfortunately for him, he was home when she burst though the door.

"What the hell!"

"Please remain calm. I am going to borrow some of your clothes."

He just stared at her with a look of bewilderment and confusion as she ruffled though his stuff and she noticed his eyes carefully looking over every inch of her body. She didn't understand why it seemed to make her want to hurry up and leave faster, but it also made her feel uneasy.

"You can take all the time you want, honey."

The way he said that last part made her just react. She quickly walked over to him and hit him hard enough to send him back to sleep. He was going to wake up with a rather bad headache in the morning.

Well, it wasn't her problem.

Once she got outside and she thought about what just happened it confused her a bit as her actions didn't seem accurate to the situation as she understood it. A quick analysis showed that her CPU had processed additional emotion input but she didn't know what to make of it.

She decided to not waste anymore time on this problem and to start her primary mission.

**#Show mission objectives  
:Locate and protect John Connor**

Cameron had an idea of where should head based on the information John had given her and now it was just a waiting game.

* * *

Sarah Connor was having a bad morning. She had a terrible dream and Charlie was being very persistent about her marring him. It was making her flight instinct kick her in the head every few minutes. She didn't want to tell John about it.

She was really worried about her son. When she got shipped off to the mental hospital she got to see John loose all his faith in her. She believed that his entire world had been destroyed and a huge doubt about everything she had taught him had been raging inside of him.

However, when the Terminator protector appeared she hoped that it would erase all of his doubts and allow him to grow to be the man he was destined to become.

Only it didn't happen. After everything was settled with the T-1000 and the destruction of Cyberdyne Systems he became very obsessive about everything. He had started to ask impossible questions that she couldn't answer and retreated inside himself. She couldn't recall when he last had a friend. All he did on the weekdays was go to school, come home, and then go to his room and read. He only came back out when she asked him to dinner.

The weekends weren't much better, but at least he would leave the house to go exercise and then run off to the University library to trade-in his current books for new ones.

Anytime a person tried to get close to John he always asked odd questions. She asked him about it and he would just respond that he wanted to make sure that they weren't a terminator.

Sarah really hoped that what they had done before was the end of it, but she really didn't know. She knew John would be happy to move as he resisted anything that tried to bring him out of his shell and into a more normal life. Oh well, she was going to just have to try her best.

* * *

John looked up from his book as he heard Sarah enter the room.

"Hey there. What are you reading now?"

"A book on neural networks. I don't really understand right now."

He noticed the usual frown appear on her face. She didn't understand why he tried to plow through books he didn't understand or, in her option, had no need for. They argued over it quite a bit as she usually wanted him to get out more.

"I've been thinking that we need to leave."

It surprised him a bit, but not that much. He knew that Charlie's proposal of marriage had her scared as she hated being tied down to anything.

"Mom, you couldn't have picked a worst time. School is going to start soon and this area is great for its resources."

"John we are not safe here any longer. We need to go."

"Safe! I think it's because he gave you a ring and wants you marry him. It has got you all freaked out."

He knew the look on her face and it got worse as he spoke. She wasn't going to take no for an answer and was pretty darn mad as well. Time to side step this before she blows up.

"It's ok mom. I will get stuff packed up and we can go."

Her face softened and she looked right into his eyes and said, "Thanks."

* * *

Later that day Charlie Dixon found himself listening to rather crazy story from Special Agent James Ellison about the woman he wanted to marry.

He found it rather impossible to believe that she was actually a wanted criminal who had murdered someone and destroyed a building in the process. Of course the story about robots from the future who were going to destroy the world was just plain nutty.

"So, Mr. Dixon you can understand why we need you to tell us everything about her."

"I can't believe you're asking me this.? I love her and never saw anything to suggest that she was wacko."

"It really doesn't matter what you believe Mr. Dixon. What I need you to do is tell me what you know?"

Agent Ellison wasn't going to let this go so he just filled him in on what he knew hoping that perhaps from the stories and information he provided that agent Ellison would see that he was mistaking her for someone else.

* * *

**August 23, 1999 – Gallup, New Mexico**

John really didn't like this new town. It was small, smelled bad, and was definitely a hick town. He was secretly wondering if Sarah picked this town because it had very few resources for him to be able to continue his research into varying aspects of science.

He had hoped that he could continue by emailing various people he had met at the local university but there wasn't Internet access in this small town.

With everything combined it had put him in a very sour mood on his ride to school.

"John. John. JOHN!"

He jumped and looked at his mother.

"What?"

"Try to cheer up. We have been in worse places than this."

He gave a grunt and got out of the car and headed into the school. Sarah had already taken care of all the paper work necessary so he just had to find his first class.

It didn't take him long and he was happy that it was near the front because he didn't fit in at all. His clothes didn't match and his hair was really off. He just found a desk and sat down trying to be as inconspicuous as possible.

"Hi there."

Apparently, it wasn't working. A girl had just sat down in the desk just off to the side of him. Well, he should at least try to be nice.

"Hi."

John didn't say anything else as he was surprised at just how pretty she was. She had long brown hair that had a slight curl and sparking brown eyes. Everyone always talked about blonde girls are the nicest looking, but he thought they were just crazy. This girl looking at him was very nice indeed.

"My name's Cameron. What's yours?"

"John."

"Are you new in town."

"Um, yeah. I just got here a few weeks ago."

The teacher just walked in and asked everyone to quite down. As he started to go over the rules for the class for this semester John found himself thinking about the nice pretty girl. It was very odd to him because he always tried to be distant from people because of a fear many of them would never have to worry about, Terminators.

He decided to try talking to her later and to be careful.

* * *

Later in the day Cameron saw John digging stuff out of his locker. Now seemed the perfect time to talk to him some more. He fit the description that Commander Connor had given her but the war had destroyed all pictures he had from when he was younger so she had to guess.

"Hi John."

He jumped a bit and then put something in his back pocket. She wasn't able to get a good look at it.

"Hi. Cameron right?"

"Yea. So what are you doing later today?"

"I don't yet...Oops."

One of John's books fell out of his arms and she quickly reached out and caught it. However, as she did John pulled what he had out of back pocket and touched it to her hand. It quickly stuck there and she was able to tell it was magnetic.

"Here is your book back as well as your magnet. I have a few metal pins in my hand from an accident when I was younger."

John happily took his book and magnet back and quickly reached out to her shoulder with the magnet again. It again stuck and now John was giving her a very odd expression.

"It was a very bad accident."

"I don't think so. Usually when they put metal into the human body it is made from lighter metals like Titanium. Those metals wouldn't have the magnetic reaction nearly as strong as you do."

She didn't have any idea of what to do. Commander Connor had never said that he would be like this in the past, if this was him. She reasoned that his statement implied that she wasn't human and only a few people in the past would be suspicious of someone not being human in this way.

**#Probability of person being John Connor?  
:99.9 percent  
**

Her analytic systems completely agreed as well and with that she quickly reached out and grabbed John's hand.

"Come with me for a bit."

He didn't resist and followed her as they headed outside the school grounds.

Once they were in a quite place she turned and look at him and decided to be direct.

"You're John Connor right?"

"Yes, I am and you're a Terminator."

She was a bit surprised and how John was acting. She used her scanners to check him again but sure enough he was very much human and not something else trying to trick her into failing her mission.

"If you believed I was a Terminator then why didn't you quickly flea the area. You don't know what my mission is."

"I believe that I already know what your mission is. Since a terminator who would have been sent back to kill me would have killed anyone who could have exposed them as being non-human. Also, they would have concluded that any person who could have surmised that they weren't human would have most likely been John Connor and thus would have tried to kill me."

Cameron stood there in a bit of shock. This John didn't fit any of the parameters besides the physical makeup that had been given to her. He was smart, calculating, and apparently crafty. Something was odd and she realized she was going to be operating far outside her original mission parameters.

"Cameron lets head home."

John reached out and grabbed her hand and they started walking. It didn't take long for a strange sensation to register. She was enjoying this activity. It didn't make sense to her because she was just walking with him to his house with his hand holding hers, but it was there, enjoyment. It was very odd so she increased the amount of data her sensors were collecting to examine and look at the data very carefully later.

"What year did you come from?"

"2027."

"How long have you been looking for me?"

"82 days, 8 hours, 4 minutes and ..."

"Wow, that is enough. You don't have to go to level of precision for that question. In the future if a question has a time that exceeds a day or two just give the number of days. I will let you know if I need more information."

"Thanks for explaining."

"How was that you seemed so human as compared to other terminators?"

This question confused her. It implied that John had meet another terminator before but as far as she knew this would be his first encounter.

"I was given a sort of script for how to act in a high school setting that I could adjust to better help myself appear more human. Also, Tech-Com altered the way my neural net processor functioned to better enhance me. It wasn't explained to me exactly how these enhancements would function but I was told that over time it would become apparent."

"Hmm, interesting. If I was going to guess, I would assume that they gave you a human range of emotions and would leave it up to me to guide you to better a understanding humans and our values."

Again she was surprised by his insight. All Terminators were more than the last version, but her models could only be used for short missions because they quickly developed oddities that ruined their ability to function. Skynet had isolated the problem to the enhancements made to offer a basic set of emotions to appear more human. Skynet only sent models like her out for quick missions and left long missions to the more logical units.

"John your question earlier implied that you had meet a Terminator before. Is that correct?"

"Yes."

"That shouldn't be right. When I left Commander Connor had tried to prepare me as much as possible because he said that this would be your first encounter."

"Actually, six years ago I encountered a T-1000 and had a T-800 as a protector. It was hell."

"A T-1000? I am unaware of that model."

"Well that settles it then. You left in 2027 but apparently Skynet sent more units back later after 2027 but they come sooner in my life."

She considered this possibility and concluded that it seemed to be the only one that made sense to her as well.

"Well here we are. My mom is going to be very upset over this."

"Why?"

"Because she believed that we were successful in stopping the creation of Skynet."


	2. A hint of something out there

* * *

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Terminator characters.**

* * *

Sarah was mad. Not just a little mad, but thunderstorm mad. She had only been at work for a little while after dropping John off when the school called.

"Sarah, you got a call," yelled Jim the chef at the local Denny's she was working at.

"Ok, I will be there in a second."

"Hello. Ms. Reese this is Pam at the high school calling"

Her heart jumped a bit, surely John couldn't haven't gotten hurt already.

"Has anything happened to my son John."

"No, nothing happened to him. It is just that he appears to have taken off from school. He was present for the first two classes but hasn't been seen sense and you had left instructions with the office to call if he skipped."

"Yes, thanks for calling me. I will take care of it."

"No problem. Usually kids like to get into a little trouble at this age. Knowing most boys he is probably with some girl he met. Anyways, have a nice day."

"You too, bye."

It took all of Sarah's will power not to just run out of the restaurant as fast as she could. She knew her son and he most certainly wasn't off with some girl he just met. She was worried that somehow one of those things had appeared again and had made off with her son. Upon closer inspection she figured that he most likely had run off to see if he could find better sources information.

She had a common argument with him every so often about going to school. In his mind he was doing a far better job than the high school teachers could. He wanted to take a few tests and get into college early, but their family had special rules. Don't stand out, don't desire to be special, and especially don't draw attention to yourself.

Sarah went and found the manager and told her that she had to track down her errant son. The manager was a nice lady and didn't mind, especially since Sarah had been doing a really good job since she started about two weeks ago.

Once that had been taken care of she took off wondering where in the word her son was and hoping she would be back before the lunch rush.

Things weren't going as planned at all for her. She had been driving around for several hours looking in all sorts of places. She called the police, checked several hangouts for local kids, called her house a thousand times, and looked in the local library but her son was nowhere to be seen. She was really starting to get desperate when she decided to go home praying that he was there.

As she stormed the house and walked inside she heard two people talking. One sounded like John but the other she had never heard before. She carefully walked over the kitchen sink and got the gun that was hidden under it.

As she got just outside of John's door she listened for a minute.

"John this is strange plan. One that I would have never thought off.", spoke some girl that she had never heard before. She couldn't believe it. He had actually taken off with some girl that he had just meet. Her anger overwhelmed her and she slammed open the door.

The girl flew off of John's bed and grabbed the gun before she could even blink and then the impossible happened. The girl yanked it away from her so quickly and hard she thought the her wrist had been broken, but the girl didn't give her a moment's rest as she quickly brought the gun up to her head and pointed it at her.

"Cameron stop! It's my mother."

"Oh. I'm sorry about that." The girl named Cameron gave Sarah her gun back and even looked a little bit embarrassed about it. It was the lack of embarrassment and how she moved that make Sarah's blood run cold.

"John, what is she?"

John looked at her and scratched his head a little bit as he was thinking about his answer, a trait he had developed a year or so ago.

"She is a Terminator from the year 2027 and my new wife."

Sarah's brain just froze up. She didn't know what to yell or interrogate him on first. Wife? What the heck is he thinking. Skynet's back, it can't be back. We got ride of that damn disaster once already.

John apparently sensed her distress came up to her.

"Mom lets go talk out at the dinning room table."

Sarah numbly followed John and Cameron (daughter in-law!?) out to the table and sat down with them.

* * *

They all sat down around the table with Cameron sitting next to John. John looked over at her and said, "Tell her what we went over about the future and Skynet."

"I was sent back from the year 2027 to protect John. I'm an advanced infiltration model that has been customized by Tech-Com. A T-888 has also been sent back to this year to try and an eliminate John."

"A T-888? Why not another T-1000?"

John looked at Sarah.

"Apparently, the T-1000 doesn't exist yet when Cameron came back. In essence, the T-1000 and T-800 protector were from a later year."

Sarah looked a bit confused, but motioned for me to continue.

"Judgment day occurs on April 19, 2011. We don't know who creates Skynet but we know that its birth its is in the years 2007 to 2009. Also, the resistance has sent back additional personal to the years of 2005 to 2007 to try and stop other Skynet units."

"John, this doesn't make any sense. Last time Judgment day was August 29, 1997. How can she be from an earlier point in the future but have the Judgment day she knows about occur later?"

John gave out a tired sigh. He had asked a few additional questions for clarification but didn't question her. Sarah, seemed to be questioning if she was telling the truth.

"This is one of the problems I have been going on about mom. Why aren't we swarmed with Terminators always trying to kill me? Or for that matter why didn't Skynet send a large army back into the past to eliminate everyone and then create itself? It just doesn't make any sense because once you have the ability to alter time you can use almost infinite resources to ensure victory."

Sarah had opened her mouth to say more but stopped. She just tapped the table for a little bit with her fingers.

"Cameron go ahead and continue."

"We also have access to a time displacement device that was built by the resistance's best engineer. We can use it to travel forward in time to directly fight against the birth of Skynet."

"Is that it?"

She gave Sarah a quick nod and then the yelling started.

"John how could you have just taken off from school like without calling me or letting me know what was going on!"

Sarah mood quickly changed. She took everything Cameron had told her with a calm detachment but now she was anything but calm.

"I decided to act on my plans once I knew who Cameron was. I didn't call you because I knew you would try and stop me."

"You bet I would have. Now tell me what the heck you meant by calling her your wife!"

"I went the county clerk's office and get the marriage license. After filling in the various..."

"Wait, you mean you really married her! What in the hell where you thinking?"

John just sat back in his chair and crossed his arms and didn't say anything as Sarah continued to fume. After a few moments she turned her eyes on me.

"How about you tell me what he was thinking and why you went along with it?"

"John's plan was to have us form a team and enter the computer industry together after jumping to the year 2007. From there we would search for the necessary technology and infrastructure that would enable the birth of Skynet."

"John your only 16. How in the world do you think you could pull something like that off and why do you two need to be married?"

"I could pass for 20 something easily and Cameron here can look like she is 27 with a few changes. On the marriage license I used Cameron's assumed last name of Phillips and I knew that once we had jumped to 2007 it would be hard obtaining new ID. The paper trail that will have existed for the last 8 years will make it very easy to become established in the future."

Sarah face showed a bit of shock as she sat down and she let out a long breath.

"John I know that your smarter than most other people around you but you're not ready to start going directly after Skynet yet. You need those years to become more prepared and then we can be ready to start fighting."

"I don't think so mom. Something about Skynet and the Terminators has bugged me for a long time. Look at a chess game, both sides battle each other unaware that there is a third opponent they are fighting against."

She turned and looked at John a bit confused. She queried her system to retrieve more information about the game chess.

**#Query details about game "chess"  
:Details located in file #10039422**

She examined the details but saw no mention of a third player for the game.

"John according to the details of the game there is no third opponent in the game that both players play against."

He smirked at her and Sarah was giving her a cool stare as well.

"There is but most people don't think about it. The other player is time. In a chess tournament time is represented by the clock each player uses. It doesn't matter who wins or looses the game because time always wins in the end."

She considered John's words and could see what he was saying but didn't see how that really applied to their current situation.

"I don't understand how this applies to our current problems."

"I agree with the machine John. You're not making any sense."

"There is something else involved here. Skynet should have been able to send a whole army of Terminators back to get ride of me or the resistance could have sent back a small army to ensure Skynet's destruction. I mean we have 4 billion years worth of time on earth to pick and either side could have sent groups somewhere in there to get the required resources necessary to ensure victory. Instead we have a few people and machines, perhaps a hundred in total. Something else must be involved here."

John got up and grabbed a glass from the cabinet and filled it with water before returning to the table. Sarah had a look of surprise on her face and a bit of confusion.

Cameron herself was carefully considering John's words and agreed that it seemed to be silly to only send a few units or people back when instead an army would be able to accomplish far more. So, why wasn't such an action taken by either side.

"So, what do we do? How do you find this something and what do you do once you find it?"

"I bet we will find it as we get closer to Skynet but as to what we do with it, I have no idea right now."

"John that is almost useless. You tell me that there is mysterious figure out there affecting the resistance and Skynet's operations but you don't have any idea of what it is, what it wants, or what to do with it. Come on! I have taught you better than that."

"Mom, this is one of those things where you have to have faith in me."

"Sorry John. I do have faith in you but I can't let you just run off on a hunch. You are far too important especially with the arrival of tin-miss here."

"So what do you want to do?"

"For now we will stay put and lay low."

"That action isn't advisable. If you kept the same alias from where you last where you could be tracked to our current location."

"Mom, she's right and I'm not going to sit around here waiting."

"John, let me at least think about things over a day or two. Is that ok?"

"Yea. So what's for dinner?"

Sarah starting laughing and Cameron found it very intriguing as humor was very uncommon in 2027. She watched as carefully as she could until John tapped her on the shoulder.

"In public don't stare at people so hard. It can draw unwanted attention to yourself."

He smiled at her as he said it and it made her feel warm again. She was really going to have to carefully analyze what was going on as she didn't want to develop problems this early into her mission.

* * *

**Notes: **Here is another quick chapter. I hope find this John a bit more useful than the one that appears in the show and some of the other stories. Also, if you have an idea toss it my way. I like trying to incorporate neat ideas into the stories I work on. I hope you like how things are moving so far.

* * *


	3. End of a long Day

* * *

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the terminator characters.**

* * *

Cameron watched Sarah as she was cooking dinner. It was a bit later than they usually ate, according to John they usually ate at about 6:00pm but it was now 9:43:12.332pm. The reason they were eating late is that Sarah had gone back into work for a little to makeup for the time she missed earlier in the day.

"Ouch."

Sarah rubbed her wrist a bit and according to her sensors it was swelling up.

"I'm sorry about your wrist."

"It's ok, but I would have hoped that you would have known who I was."

"I only had a description and while you did appear to be Sarah Connor I didn't want to be mistaken and let John be harmed."

Sarah turned back to her cooking after giving her a small smirk to her reply.

"This meal smells very different than what I am usually around. How does it taste?"

"I think that would be a bit hard to describe to someone like you, besides you don't eat anything."

"Actually, I was planning on eating with you. I need to eat to sustain my organic components."

Sarah's quickly turned and looked at her. Sarah's expression clearly showed that her response was a big surprise. It looked like she was going to say more when John came inside hauling a large amount of stuff he had collected from the storage shed and other things they had picked up from the hardware store today.

"Cameron can you come over and help for a little bit?"

"John don't get too busy because this is almost done."

"Don't worry."

Cameron walked over to John and he held out a box filled several small diameter pipes and indicated that he wanted her to pick up the milk crate on the floor. She quickly grabbed the items and followed John over the dinner room table.

"What is this stuff going to be used for John."

"We are going to make a weapon that should hopefully destroy or disable a Terminator. I had thought about it for quite a while after my first encounter with the one sent to kill me and came up with this plan. It isn't perfect but I figured that with armed with a few of these were cause a Terminator serious damage."

"John, most weapons from this time period have little affect on a Terminator so this seems a bit confusing."

His eyes seemed to shine with mirth as he smiled at her.

"That is exactly why we are going to build something better. It later occurred to me after seeing the T-1000 and T-800 die that heat is a very large problem for the Terminator frame. It can take a large amount of damage, but a large amount of heat can melt it just like other metal alloys."

"That is correct. While we are made from an advanced set of materials we cannot overcome very high temperatures."

"Exactly, so this weapon is a spear that when struck into the body of a Terminator will inject a thermite mixture into the wound and ignite it. I haven't figured out a way to make a good long range projectile that is small enough to carry around yet, but I bet you could through one of these pretty far."

"A very unusual plan."

John then went over all of the details with her on how to create several of the spears. They were rather compact and only held about 4 ounces of the thermite mixture. The handles folded up so it would be easy to carry a few them and when extended they were about thirty six inches long. They would be easy to build, but just when they were going to get started.

"Dinner is ready. John please grab three plates and the needed silverware."

"Three? Mom, I don't think Cameron eats."

"Actually, I do."

John stared at her with a raised eyebrow but moved into the kitchen and got the necessary plates.

Dinner was nice and quite. It surprised Cameron how much it was similar to back in the resistance camps. John and his mom didn't bother to talk much but instead just seemed to want to eat quickly and peacefully. She assumed it must have come from the large amount of running they had done together in the past. For her part she ate as much as she needed and enjoyed the food. Sarah had called it stroganoff and she added it her list of meals she liked.

After dinner John and her made seven of his thermite spears and he put two of them in his backpack. He explained that if she found him then he expected the T-888 to show up at anytime and she agreed with his tactical analysis.

"Time to go to bed John."

"Alright. Cameron what are you going to do all night?"

"Patrol the house."

John looked around to see where his mother was and then walked up closer to her and whispered in her ear, "Come to my room after my mom has gone to bed and is asleep."

With that John headed off to his room leaving Cameron feeling that warm glow inside of her.

* * *

It had been a bit over an hour since Sarah and John had gone to bed when Cameron decided to analyze the data she had collected that involved her interactions with John.

**#Perform analysis on file sets #399944, #404333, #404339**

She waited while her analysis processor worked away wondering why interaction with John often left her feeling warm inside. She hadn't even been around him for a whole day and yet he was causing some sort of emotional response that was far outside the normal range for her.

She moved to the front window and examined everything. There was a person running down the street but he appeared to be an unlikely threat as two cops were chasing after him.

After the activity died down she moved on to the kitchen window. A quick scan showed nothing was happening and nothing had changed since she last looked outside of it.

**:Analysis complete. Abnormality detected.  
**

**#List nature of abnormality  
:Nature of abnormality and classification is unknown.**

If she was a normal person she would have tossed her hands up in the air and stomped around loudly in frustration, but as was her stoic nature she decided that the best course of action would be to consult other references and perhaps ask John what it was that she was feeling.

* * *

John was quietly digging around in the stuff he had packed while leaving Charlie's house when Cameron quietly opened his door.

"Hi there, come on in."

She came in and shut the door just as quietly. For being a machine that he guessed weighted more than him he was surprised at how quietly she could move in this old house. He had a hard time moving without the floor creaking under him which made it almost possible to not wake his mom during the night.

He motioned for her to sit down next to him and handed her a book.

"What's this."

"It is my description of everything that happened to me six years ago. It also contains a large number of my thoughts and plans on how to deal with Skynet. I want you to read and memorize it and then destroy it."

She looked back at him with an impassive gaze for a few seconds before a slow smile spread across her face.

"Thank you for giving me this information."

He smiled back and her and was glad that she was around. Not really having any friends had made it hard on him, but he didn't believe anyone could really deal with his problems. Once she appeared one of his biggest problems was solved. He now had a friend that he could tell anything and would always support him.

After the death of the T-800 protector he had promised himself that if he ever sent one back again it would be one to be his partner in his life. When she appeared it appeared that his future self was able to find one who could be more than even be a best friend. It suited him just fine because his plans for dealing with Skynet were very different from his mom's.

Cameron quickly scanned through the entire book and once finished looked back up at him with a somewhat confused expression.

"John your resolutions in this book would appear to contradict what your mom wants to do with Skynet."

"It took me a while but I came to the conclusion that AI was an inevitable technology and that it would be impossible to truly stop its creation. Once I figured that part out, it became apparent that I must ensure the creation of an AI that is aligned with human thoughts and values. If I can do that then I believe that I can have that AI displace Skynet thus preventing all of the coming disaster."

She seemed to carefully consider his words and then turned back to him and asked, "I don't understand what you are talking about the time for traveling in time. Please explain it further."

"Another thing that has always bugged me is how can Skynet send someone back to kill me. It directly forms a paradox because if Skynet kills me then there is no reason to send some back to kill me. Now if there is now no reason to send someone back to kill me then I will still live and so it again become necessary to send someone back to kill me. It is just like considering the truth of, This statement is false."

"I see. It is a question that doesn't have an answer."

"Exactly. So what many people have speculated is that if parallel worlds exist then it is possible to travel back in time and then create these paradoxes because you are actually affecting a different branch of time than the one you came from. Another one is that a change in time must travel across time and rewrite the timeline as it travels. Just like a wave moving across a sea, but no one knows how to measure such a thing even if it exists."

"You have given me much to think about. I don't have an answer to your problems currently but I will continue to search out one."

"Thanks Cameron."

She gave him a really nice smile but then looked down at the floor for a moment.

"John I have question that I was hoping you could perhaps answer for me. My processor is capable of handling some emotion which Skynet designed to allow for us to be better infiltrators but all versions in my series could only operate for a short period of time, usually less than six months, before a large number of oddities and problems developed that eventually caused the unit to fail."

She had John's complete attention. He had noticed that she seemed far more human that the others but didn't expect that she could actually process emotions. He was really starting to like the choice his future self had made.

"This problem is why Skynet limited how we were used and would never send us out on a long term mission. In addition, instead of making our neural network processors read-only only for solo missions all of our units were set to read-only to disallow large divergence from the initial programming."

Hmm. It appeared that Skynet could be really afraid of what this new unit could come to understand with long term interaction with humans.

"Commander Connor found me in one of the camps after I had developed serve irregularities and was barely able to function. The men in the camp were getting ready to have me destroyed but instead I got taken back to the resistance Skynet Technology Repurposing Lab."

"I don't understand everything that was done to me but I was able to function again. While it wasn't at the same level I was at before, things seemed clearer. They also removed the read-only setting on my neural network processor and integrated more feeling into our organic components."

John reached over and ran his fingers over the hairs on her arm and she jumped a bit.

"So you can fell that. Why did you jump?"

"Well it is related to the question I wanted to ask you. Ever since I got here when I am with you or when you look at me I get this odd warm sensation. I don't know what it is and my analytic processor was unable to identify it as well. Could you tell me what it is?"

John knew what it was but didn't think she was really ready to start thinking along those lines yet. She hadn't even been here for a day yet and it seemed far to early for this.

"I believe I know what it is in human terms, but it may not match up. It would be better for you to experience more interactions with this feeling and other feelings that may develop around it before I can tell you for certain what it is. Can you do that?"

"Yes I can do that."

"Great, well it is getting rather late, 2:33am according to the clock by my bed so how about we go to sleep?"

"I don't sleep."

"You do now. It would make you appear more human if you could adopt a sleeping schedule. Also, I'm sure your sensors would tell you if anyone was trying to break in."

She tilted her head to the side and appeared to be considering his words carefully.

"Alright, but where should I sleep?"

John felt himself smile to himself. It was going to wonderful having her around.

"Just sleep in here with me. It will also make it easier for you to protect me that way."

For some strange reason her eyes appeared to glow a faint blue after he said that.

* * *

At about 4:00am a car came rumbling into town. Few paid it any mind as they were fast asleep and the few who noticed it didn't pay it any attention. However the person who was driving it wasn't really a person. His name was Cromartie and he was the T-888 that Cameron had warned John about.

He had tracked John to this location by following the information that Charlie Dixon had given to the FBI about her current alias. It had helped that she had recently also called the police looking for her son as that information included a description of his appearance. Based on the information that he had the chances of a match where high enough that it warranted investigation.

A quick check of the local high school records and Cromartie had the class list for John Reese. He planned to enter the school as a substitute to teacher after eliminating one of John's teachers. He was currently on his way to the location of John's first teacher of the day, a Mr. Anderson. Getting in early would cause the least amount of questions before he could complete his mission.

* * *

**Notes:** Ok, so here is another chapter. Maybe I should have called this series 24 as it sure was a long day, word wise at least. We will soon get to see some nice action and find out how John's spear does against a T-888. Also, a few of you maybe wondering why John would so quickly latch onto Cameron. My take is that he was very lonely and wanted someone there and when she appeared it was like a floodgate opened. He now had someone who could be with him that wouldn't think he was crazy and could actually handle the danager. To him it was a perfect match. As for Cameron, well she is going to be confused for a while but it will make sense to her in a while.

I made some updates to adjust the grammar as in places I didn't seem to make any sense. It is always good to come back after a day and relook at things.

* * *


	4. Pancakes are Evil

* * *

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Terminator characters.  
**

* * *

Sarah rolled over and looked at the clock. It reported back that it was now 6:33am and so she decided to get up. John and Cameron would need to get to school by 7:50am so she really needed to be up to get breakfast and herself ready.

It surprised her but she had a rather restful night of sleep. It wasn't perfect but it was far better than most others. She had discovered long ago that she slept much better once she had a direct fight in front of her instead of laying in wait for some new enemy to pop up. She was almost willing to bet that she would be able to get a great night's sleep in the trenches of the battle field.

She stretched a bit and felt several joints pop and then wandered out into the hallway. It was a quite morning and the weather appeared to offer a nice bright day.

She turned toward John's room to get him moving. If she waited to wake him up it would be like dragging a person who was halfway in a coma to school. On those days she had wondered if it would be better to leave him in the care of the special education teachers. It might even finally get her point across that he should go to sleep sooner instead of staying up so late obsessing about everything. Even she wasn't that intense.

She cracked open the door and looked in at John. He was soundly asleep halfway off the bed with a leg hanging off the side. She smiled a bit and opened the door all the way and then stared in complete shock at the scene before her.

John was halfway off the bed because lying right next to him was Cameron. She looked very peaceful and if anyone looked at a picture of scene she was looking they would never guess how dangerous Cameron really was. Instead she looked like a regular girl, except that she was sleeping with her son and only in a t-shirt and panties.

She had to carefully let go of the door knob and relax her fingers from how tightly she had been gripping the door. After trying to take a couple of calming breaths she gave up.

"JOHNATHAN KYLE CONNOR! What in the hell do you think that you are doing!"

If she wasn't so mad it might have occurred to her that yelling out John's real name wasn't a good idea. Especially when people could have heard it half a block away.

* * *

John tried to get up but was quickly grabbed by Cameron who pushed him back onto the bed as she jump over him looking ready to attack anything.

"What is the nature of the emergency?", asked Cameron.

"You! You are the emergency. What are you doing sleeping in John's bed?"

"Mom, it's ok. I asked her to stay with me?"

"OK? It's not ok. First you run off and get married and then I find her in your bed. Your ID story doesn't appear to be your only motive now does it? You had better give me a really good explanation for your actions."

"John wanted me to stay with because it would be easier for me to protect him."

"You don't even sleep, so I..."

"Actually I do. The more similar I am to a human's behavior the better of an infiltrator I am."

John looked over and Cameron and made a metal note that her loyalty was to him. Her lie proved that and he was willing to bet that she would do just about anything for him. He knew his mom would be really mad over this, but he wanted to see what Cameron would do in this situation. He was very happy with her and what she had just done and quickly decided several key things in his plans.

John turned back to his mom and noticed that as her gaze settled on him he saw a slight smile from Cameron aimed at him. The silent exchange confirmed everything for him.

Sarah let out an exasperated sigh and set down on the chair in John's room.

"John I know how you felt about the last Terminator, but you can't think that these machines are capable of truly understanding human thought and feelings. I can't let you fall into that trap or you will not be able to accomplish what it is that you must do in the future."

"She will never love you nor will she be able to care for you the way another human being can. She is just a machine John."

Sarah's face held a hard expression and he knew that she wasn't going to allow any arguments on the matter, but she didn't realize that neither was he. However, for now it was best to allow her to believe that he would honor her wishes.

"Ok, mom."

"Alright then. Now since tin-miss here also sleeps I can believe that having her close by would be a good idea but having her in the same bed is out of the question. So, we can rearrange your room and get her a bed. However, absolutely no changing clothes or sleeping together. Got it?"

John and Cameron told her it was fine. It irked him a bit that his mom still treated him like such a kid and he really needed to get her to let go. He hoped that she would start to do that as he took over more of the fight from her.

* * *

John was quickly eating his breakfast of pancakes. For some reason it made him nervous. Whenever, he got pancakes something would usually go very wrong during the course of the day. He had told his mom about it and wanted her to take them off the home menu, but she always said he was being silly. He would still eat them like today but had come to regard them as some evil force in the world.

He was just finishing up his last pancake when Cameron came down the hallway after cleaning up and getting dressed. He quickly found himself choking and had to gulp down some of the orange juice quickly.

John quickly ran down the hall and intercepted Cameron and dragged her back to their room. He was happy that his mom was busy getting herself ready after making breakfast as it would have been troublesome if she was also around.

After John had her in their room and had the door shut he turned back to her and asked, "Why are you dressed like that?"

Cameron was wearing the shirt and shoes form yesterday, but only had a pair of panties on for her lower half.

"My skirt was damaged while we were building the new weapons and since we didn't purchase me any additional clothes I don't have anything else to wear. I tried some of your clothes but they won't fit me and I didn't want to damage them. I was going to ask you what I should do but your reaction was rather odd so I didn't say anything."

He was sure happy that she hadn't somehow gotten very machine like after meeting up with him. He knew that she was using a script to help blend in and that it would have limits but didn't want her to suddenly loose all her common sense after being outside of what the script could tell her.

"Alright, this isn't a big problem. My mom and you are really close in size. Just go into her room and ask her for some clothes and it shouldn't be a problem."

"Thank you."

Cameron walked passed him and on the way out and reached up and caressed his face. It felt good and he didn't mind it at all.

* * *

Cameron followed John into their first period classroom and set down her stuff and made herself comfortable at her desk. A regular Terminator wouldn't bother with such things but she did because unlike the others she could feel far more than they could. At first she had found it odd but quickly got adjusted to it and did find it made her seem far more human.

She watched as John had gotten out a notebook and was writing down several things. From the way his pen was moving she guessed it to be a list of sorts. She couldn't see it well enough to extrapolate what he was writing however. She started to inquire him about it...

"John Reese and Cameron Phillips please come with me to the administration office."

Cameron turned and looked at the speaker and heard John grumble off to her side. She recognized the speaker as assistant principle Joan Adams.

She started to pick up her things when the woman spoke again, "You can leave your things as this will only take a few moments."

She considered it a bit and noticed that John and set his backpack back down was heading toward the woman and so she did the same thing.

Once they were in the woman's office she didn't waste anytime.

"So you two decided to take off the rest of the day after second period. Was there something you two had to do together that would warrant this type of action."

Cameron was thinking of a response that would satisfy the woman and allow them to return to class without much fuss, but wasn't having much luck. She decided to start with a simple answer and then work from there.

"We were..."

"Actually, we had to run over to the county clerks office to get married."

Cameron turned her head and looked and John wondering just what he was up to.

"Oh really, Mr. Reese I don't what kind of person you think you are or how well you did with ladies at your last school but I don't think you are that smooth of an operator. Besides, you are only 16 and you can't get married without your parents consent here in New Mexico."

"We did have our parents consent. It was an arranged marriage. It had been planned for a long time and once we got here it was time to get it taken care of."

"Well, Mr. Reese you have just purchased two weeks of detention. You will find that the administration here doesn't have a sense of humor for such nonsense and I would like for you to remember that. Now, Cameron how about you tell me what you two were doing."

Cameron didn't know what in the world John was thinking but figured that she would follow his lead and gave the woman the same story with the same results.

"Well since you two don't want to tell me it shows me that you were getting into things you shouldn't. The school will be inspecting your lockers and belongings for drugs and other contraband. Also, we will be calling your parents to have a nice sit together to go over your wonderful story here."

She was so confused, why did John want all this attention. His actions were going to draw a lot of scrutiny towards them and she didn't understand why he would want that.

"Alright you two. Lets go back to your classroom and get your things so that we can all go through them."

John and her followed the lady back to class and when they entered she noticed a new teacher taking attendance. She didn't recognize him and the assistant principle didn't appear to either.

"I'm sorry but I don't seem to recognize you. Could you tell me who you are?"

"My name is Cromartie and I am a new substitute teacher. Mr. Anderson is out sick today."

"Oh, alright. These two are Cameron Phillips and John Reese who I was ..."

Cromartie had pulled out a gun as soon as she said John's name from a hole in his leg. He had shot right through Ms. Adams trying to get at John but he had already dodged into the classroom. Everyone screamed and ran for the doors and Cameron got ready to fight.

Cameron quickly did a threat analysis on Cromartie as she charged in powering up her combat systems.

**#Perform Threat Analysis on subject Cromartie  
****:Unit is a T-888. Threat level is high.  
**

**#List T-888 fighting abilities compared to self  
****:Strength is 19.2 percent in excess  
****:Targeting ability is 19.3 percent in excess  
****:Sight is 5.1 percent in excess for nightvision, 75.9 percent deficient in true color  
****:Weight is 51.2 percent in excess  
****:Tactical combat is 22.2 percent in excess  
****:Frame armor is 34.4 percent in excess**

Not good. As an infiltrator she wasn't built to be a front line soldier and the break down she just got confirmed it. However, it didn't matter as she had to give everything she could to try and save John.

The T-888 was aiming for John as he was making for his desk but it didn't get to make the shot as she slammed into him as fast as she could. They flew across the room and almost smashed through the far wall across from the door.

Cromartie grabbed her and attempted to push her off but she made use of her current position to use both hands and hit with everything she could in the lower chest. She was trying to cause damage to Cromartie's powersupply. Even dislodging a wire could cause a large amount of damage but her attack didn't phase him at all.

He grabbed her arms and spread them wide and then brought both of his feet together and used the immense power in his legs to fling her across the room and into the wall by the door. The lockers on the outside of the wall prevented her from going all the way through. The impact was so hard it made her optical sensors blip and and the calibration got messed up. Everything now appeared to be very hazy and blurry and her image enhancement software couldn't do anything to clear it up.

She was loosing badly and felt a new odd sensation sweep over her. It was dark and cold and wanted to swallow her up. She tried to put it out of her mind but it wouldn't go away but she pushed herself forward anyway.

**#Perform calibration on left eye  
****:Calibration started, eta is 39.32 seconds until complete**

As the calibration started her vision in her left eye turned off. Her right eye was a little better but things still looked fuzzy.

Cromartie was shooting at John but John was rolling and dodging his way toward her. She didn't understand why he would bother because it would make much more sense for him to leave the area.

He quickly made his way toward her and flung himself at the doorway grabbing her outstretched hand, which excised her from the wall. John started running leading the way by holding her hand. Cameron heard Cromartie start running after them.

She knew that at their current pace Cromartie would quickly over take them and with her vision damaged it would be hard, if not impossible, for her to be able to fight him effectively.

**#Left eye calibration status  
****:Calibration will complete in 18.93 seconds**

Cromartie started to fire at them but all the bullets impacted her. He was using a 9mm handgun which presented no threat to her but would easily kill John if he got hit. However, he was doing a good job of allowing her to keep him covered with her body.

John suddenly stopped and turned as Cromartie was just about on top of them and threw something at Cromartie. Based on the noise and impact sound she heard, it could only be one of John's spears. They took off running again as she heard strange noises coming from Cromartie. Apparently, John's spear was able to ignite and inflict some damage.

They ran to the parking lot and crouched down behind some cars.

**:Left eye calibration complete.**

"Are you ok?"

"My eyesight was damaged in the fight. I have been able to correct it in one eye but my right eye hasn't been fixed yet. However, I will not need to correct it until later. First it is important that we escape and seek a new location."

"From how that fight of yours went I take it that your abilities don't match up with his in places."

"My design doesn't allow for the combat abilities that the larger Terminators posses."

"I was expecting that. So here is the plan. I want you to take this last spear and ram it into his weakest spot to disable him. Once he is disabled we will be able to escape. I don't think I caused him much damager earlier, just enough to cause him a large amount of trouble which bought us enough time to escape to a better area."

"John it would be better to not attempt further combat today and this course of action puts you in greater danger. We should leave while we can."

He turned and looked directly into her eyes and said, "I'm not running anymore."

"John, this really isn't a ..."

What else she was going to say was cutoff by the appearance of Cromartie. His right leg had been damaged and he was limping along. As he got closer she was able to see that John had gotten him in his right side just above the leg joint. The fire had burned the clothes and flesh completely off in a 12 inch area. Her sensors showed that it had melted some of his frame and the heat had warped part of his leg joint and that was the reason he was limping.

John handed her his last spear and the expression on his face made him look very much like Commander Connor. Perhaps this John was far closer the man she knew in the future than she had at first suspected.

Based on the T-888 layout she concluded that it was best to aim for right next to spine from behind him. She informed John of her conclusions.

"Alright, this is going to be hard. We are going to let him see us and then he will start firing. Since he can't run or walk very fast he will try to rely on the gun he has. As soon as we hear that he no longer has any bullets and starts to reload then we charge him. I will come up from the front and you will go after the back. I'm going to rely on your aim being true, so do your absolute best."

She really didn't like this plan as it put him directly in danger, but she agreed to go along with it because she could see the leader in him and would follow him anywhere.

They started to pop their heads up and made a few sounds and Cromartie quickly got a lock on them and started firing. His aim was very good and if she hadn't been to shield him from the bullets he would have died.

After the forth shot she heard the sound of the magazine being ejected from the gun and motioned to John. They took off at dead run with John taking the lead.

Cromartie quickly looked up and focused his attention on John no doubt hoping to quickly kill him in the exchange and ignoring her since her combat abilities didn't present him with much of a treat. She had expected this and is why she placed the last of their spears behind her back, hoping that Cromartie would assume that John had it, but since she was wearing a skirt without pockets her underwear had to hold it which was making the run very difficult.

Just a few feet from Cromartie John leaped into the air and drove both of feet into Cromartie's chest. Unfortunately for John Cromartie far outweighed him and Cameron heard a loud pop from John's left ankle as he fell to the ground with Cromartie standing almost exactly where he had been.

Cromartie was bending toward John but she grabbed the spear from behind her back and drove it deep inside Cromartie. He tried to spin around but the thermite had already ignited. She quickly picked John up and started to run away with him. With a final look back she noticed that Cromartie had ripped the flesh away and was ripping out metal and wires trying to remove the thermite from his body.

**#Analyze Damage to Cromartie  
****:Primary Power source – 0 percent usable  
****:Secondary Power source – 65 percent usable  
****:Left Leg servos – 54 percent usable  
****:Right Leg movement – 77 percent usable  
****:Right Rear Frame armor – 52 percent effective  
****:Left Rear Frame armor – 91 percent effective **

While they had not destroyed Cromartie they had caused him a large amount of damage. She concluded that it would be a while before he was able to continue the chase after them.

"John are you ok?"

"Yea, I am but I think I might have broken my ankle."

He hugged her from his position on her back and said, "You did great. Thanks for sticking by me."

She smiled to herself and decided to go after the nearest car after they came across once they were two blocks away from the school. The police would be coming soon and she didn't want them to be around when they showed up as it would raise far too many questions.

* * *

**Notes: **Well we have our first battle. Let me know what you guys. Soon, we will be able to make our jump to the future.

* * *


	5. A Quick Leap

* * *

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Terminator characters.  
**

* * *

As Sarah just finished serving a table ten or twelve cop cars came racing past sirens blazing. They were just flying and didn't appear to care who got in their way. Based on the direction they were going she guessed it had to be the school.

Sarah had to hold onto the table to keep the dread from knocking her to her knees. All the patrons in the restaurant were still looking out the windows and talking among themselves about what could possibly be going on. She took a few deep breathes and tried to tell herself that it could be anything and that she was just overreacting but it wasn't working.

The sound of the phone ringing made her just about jump out of her skin and Angela, the other waitress on duty today, asked if she was alright. She told Angela that she was and that the phone had just startled her. Angela gave her a reassuring smile and went about her work.

"Sarah, you got a call," yelled out Jim.

She grabbed the phone and gave Jim her thanks.

"Mom, grab your stuff and meet me at the arranged location."

Sarah was overwhelmed with joy to hear John's voice but also knew that something bad had happened that that they had to leave right now. She dropped the phone and took off never to return to this location again.

* * *

"How is it?", John asked Cameron after she had just finished looking over his ankle.

"It isn't broken but you pulled the ligament. It will take a few weeks to fully heal with proper exercise."

"Well that is good to hear. Is your eyesight working correctly?"

"Mostly. I will have to do a more detailed diagnostic later to completely fix it. How long do you think it will take for you mother to come and get us?"

"She is usually very quick when it comes to this sort of thing. I bet she will be here in about five to ten minutes."

"John, why did you tell the vice principle those things?"

"I knew that she wouldn't believe me and would just get upset and give me detention for it."

"But why did you want to draw such attention to us? If Cromartie hadn't shown up we would have drawn a lot of unnecessary attention."

"This is going to sound really strange, but since I had pancakes for breakfast I knew that something really bad was going to happen and that the chances of us staying in this town was next to impossible."

Cameron thought about what had John said and found herself a bit bothered by it. A decision that isn't based on logic and reason was very dangerous. She really didn't want John to make such decisions.

"However, even if nothing had happened today I was planning on taking off with you. I can't just sit around any longer. I knew that once I took off my mom would follow. So, no matter what happened with that vice principle we weren't going to be around for it to matter."

She felt a bit better now but wondered just how often John would make decisions that didn't have a solid foundation behind them. She would ask him about it later because she spotted Sarah coming down the road towards them.

* * *

It was now evening and they were just across the Colorado state line staying in some random hotel.

John was lying on the bed looking up at the ceiling as Sarah was pacing back and forth muttering to herself. As for Cameron she was just quietly looking through several maps of the area committing them memory.

"Mom, can you please stop doing that? Your driving me crazy."

"Sorry John. I just can't help myself. I'm glad you did what I had taught you."

Sarah came over and sat down on the bed looking at John. Cameron could tell she was still very upset that a Terminator had shown up at the school. John had told her some of what had happened and changed the story to be that Cameron and him had gotten out by eluding the Terminator. He had left out everything about their fight and she figured that it was a good idea because it would have made Sarah very mad and upset.

"I know."

John sat up and looked directly at his mom with a large amount of intensity and determination in his face.

"I need to fight. We can't just keep running and I refuse to just sit back and wait for the world to get destroyed. We have to jump forward and go after Skynet."

"John we have already been over this. I know you want to fight but you need more training and experience before you do that."

"No I don't mom. I am ready now and if you won't help me I will just take off with Cameron."

"YOU WILL NOT! Now you listen to me. You are not ready and that is final."

The one thing Cameron had noticed when she first met Sarah is how much of an iron will she had. It definitely answered where John got his determination from but she suspected that Sarah didn't truly know just how stubborn John could be.

John flew off the bed and came over and grabbed her hand as he pulled her up from the chair. As they started toward the door, Sarah blocked their path.

"John Connor I will not let you toss you life out the window. You are far too important to allow to be killed."

"You can't always treat me like some porcelain doll. Since I am the future leader of mankind you need to believe in my abilities. I am not going to back down from my decision this time."

John motioned for Cameron to move his mother out of the way. It surprised her that he was really willing to leave his mom behind. As she moved forward to grab Sarah she could she the torrent of emotions playing across Sarah's face. They were far too complex and fast for her to be able to understand them but one that stood out was hurt.

"Okay John. We can fight Skynet together."

Cameron relaxed and turned to look at John and noticed the steel in his eyes. She suspected that what he had just done had also hurt him tremendously but that he was maintaining his steely gaze to not let his mom know that he would have possibly given in.

"Thanks mom. Cameron can you go over again where this time displacement machine is located and what we need to do?"

* * *

Cromartie had just finished work on repairing his left leg and estimated that it would take about one and half days before the biological covering was healed for his left leg.

He had been able to repair the joint of his right leg by disassembling it and reforming part of it. He had to use a few local parts to complete the repair. While the repair wouldn't be as good as it was in original condition, it would perform at 91 percent. The performance level was within acceptable ranges.

The biggest problem he was facing was the damage to his primary power source. It was a very complex radio-isotope power converter that would last for approximately 120 years but was now completely useless. His backup power supply was a very small and efficient closed loop hydrogen fuel cell. It only need a small amount of water to keep working but had to have energy put into it and be charged like a battery. It could power his systems for three days before he would have to recharge it.

There was no way for him to be able to repair his primary power source quickly with local parts. It would take several months to source all the needed supplies to make a usable replacement. He choose to go ahead with his mission as he currently was and would reexamine the power supply issue later.

Those weapons that had been used on him were of an unknown design but were very effective. He would have to devise some sort of countermeasure or there was a high chance of him being destroyed. They had several limitations but a direct hit like the he got from the cyborg protector could cause massive damage. He was going to have to be careful and not assume the threat level of people around John Connor as his resourcefulness was highly active even at this age.

Cromartie carefully considered where the next location he should travel to should be. He decided that it would be best to head to LA. The Connor's had many contacts that were located there and one of them should be able to provide him with information.

* * *

Agent Ellison was carefully going over the report he had received about the incident in Gallup, New Mexico. It was an odd report especially the part about the 22 witnesses claiming that the shooter was a man with some kind of robot leg. It made him pause and think very hard because all of Sarah's delusions had been about robots from the future coming back to kill her son.

He didn't know what it meant but put it aside to consider what else was going on. They had quickly left their last location just after Charlie Dixon had given Sarah a ring and asked her to marry him. He knew that she had trouble committing to much of anything and preferred to not be tied down but what he didn't understand is how someone could track her and John to Gallup, New Mexico so quickly.

Also, according to the witnesses, the shooter opened fire just after hearing John's name. It suggested that the shooter was after John but what motive would a grown man who had just come into town have for killing some kid.

There were far too many questions for his liking and he was worried about all the recent activity on the Sarah Connor case after it being so quite for the last few years. It seemed like things were going to get very strange indeed.

* * *

They had traveled carefully and slowly over to LA. Sarah wanted to take her time and wanted to let things settle down a bit before they took any action. From what Cameron had told all of them about the time displacement device, it was located in a bank called Security Trust. The engineer the resistance had sent back got a job building the vault and that is how a bank located in LA had a time machine.

As for how they were going to gain access to it bothered her. Cameron had suggested that they come in and pretend to rob the place. John hadn't said anything about it but instead just furrowed his brow and Cameron and her argued about it.

Actually, John had barely said much of anything over the last few days. He seemed to be thinking non-stop about something and only offered grunts of acknowledgment when someone asked him a question. It was really starting to bother her but she left him alone. She could tell that he was happy that she had agreed to fight, but it was tearing her up inside. Now matter what happened he was still her little boy.

"So, what do you think John?"

John looked back at her and said, "Not sure."

"We should just go inside like we want to rob the place like I suggested. It is the most direct way of gaining access to the vault."

"John what Cameron says makes sense, so what do you want to do?"

"I'm not sure yet. Something is off and I want to think about it little more."

* * *

Later that night Cameron found herself alone with John as Sarah was out getting food. She hadn't been alone with him for several days now and found herself enjoying it. Even though they were just sitting together watching the news she felt that nice warm glow well up in her.

"So, John what is bothering you about just rushing into the bank?"

"Well that are few things. One is that I don't want to end up on a news report and the other is the location. Why in the world would you put something like that in a bank? Sure a bank is secure but so are many other places. Also, what happens when they decide to remodel and find it?"

She could understand the first concern easily. The others were very good questions but she didn't really have an answer, but figured she would tell him what she knew.

"One thing I do know is that the vault was to be used to help stall for time. If one was being pursued by a Terminator locking the vault would buy them enough time to escape."

"Interesting. Sorry if I am being rather unhelpful at the moment but there are several things running through my mind."

She decided to ask him about something else that was bothering her.

"John is what happened between you and your mother bothering you?"

He turned his head and looked at her sharply. She could tell that it was a sensitize issue that was causing him pain.

"Yea it is. I didn't want to force her to start to let go, but she had to learn that I was really serious and not going to change my mind. I am worried that I somehow betrayed her and that she will not ever get over it."

For some reason Cameron felt the urge to reach over and embrace him in a hug. He didn't resist and seemed to be rather comforted by it. What was slowly happening to her was very confusing but at the same time she wanted whatever was going on to continue. These new feeling and emotions gave her a sense of pleasure and comfort which for a Terminator was a very foreign concept.

They stayed holding on to each other watching the TV as Sarah came in with dinner. Cameron recognized that it would be pizza, a meal she really liked.

Sarah seemed to carefully examine their position and she could tell that it bothered her, but Sarah didn't say anything and instead motioned for them to come over and eat.

Cameron was very happy to see that it was a cheese pizza as she had quickly discovered that was her favorite. She gave Sarah her thanks and gabbed two slices and sat down to eat.

"I think I know what I want to do regarding the bank."

Everyone had turned to look at John and Cameron was glad to know that he had made a decision.

* * *

The next morning they were all gathered outside the bank. They all had masks and were dressed without any identifying marks. John's plan was to go in as soon as the bank opened to prevent having a large number of people around.

Sarah looked at her watch and saw that it was 9:10am and motioned for them to head in. Cameron took the lead in case anyone suddenly started shooting. John had told her to not hurt anyone because they really weren't involved with what was going on and she had agreed. It really made Sarah feel better and she found herself starting to think fondly of Cameron like she had with the last Terminator.

As they entered Cameron quickly grabbed the gun of the guard by the front door and pushed him to the ground. She announced in a loud very un-Cameron voice, John had wanted her to do all the talking to help prevent people from identifying them, for everyone to get on the floor. John was right about the time because there were only two customers, two tellers, and one guard.

They stormed over to the tellers and Cameron asked the first one for the keys to the safety deposit boxes. She seemed to hesitate but Cameron asked again in a more forceful voice and the teller started to move.

A guard they missed suddenly jumped out from behind the counter and tackled Sarah. Cameron quickly had a handle on him but the guard had managed to remove Sarah's mask before he was knocked unconscious. The worst part was that the camera was looking right at her when it happened so it most likely got a good look at her.

Cameron quickly grabbed the teller and moved back to the vault area. John had followed behind and made several motions for her to come along. She wanted to get the tape but figured it wouldn't matter much in the end and moved after them.

Cameron grabbed the keys from the teller and instructed her to lock them in. The teller gave her an odd look but compiled.

As the door closed they took all of their masks off.

"John I really wanted to get the tape to the security cameras."

"Don't worry about it. Cameron told me that this place would be torn apart once the time displacement device was activated. Hopefully everyone has left the building while waiting for the police to show up. Now if we move fast enough no one will be present as the building is destroyed."

They worked very quickly. Cameron had opened the time control system as soon as they got here and programmed in the date of April 19, 2007. Now they just had to wait while the system gathered enough power to send them down the timestream.

While they were waiting Cameron was assembling a weapon that was also located here. She explained that it was a plasma rifle and that it would be good to have in case something happened while they were waiting.

As she assembled it John was closely watching everything she did and he examined every part. No doubt he was going to ask her everything she knew about it. Most likely hoping to build one later on.

* * *

"Hey James take a look at this."

James Ellison had just finished filling in several reports for the day and wanted to get them filed but Bob Jenkins had interrupted him. He turned and came inside the little office and Bob queued up a picture to the monitor and pointed.

"Isn't that the girl you were chasing?"

On the monitor was a picture of Sarah Connor struggling with a guard at a bank.

"When did this happened?"

"Just now. The bank has one of those new digital video systems that uploads everything to the police and FBI if an alarm is triggered. So, since you know her best is this something you would have thought she would do?"

"I seem to knew her less and less each day. Who's responding?"

"LAPD is sending in their swat units. They should be there in a few minutes."

"Ok. If they manage to actually catch her could you let me know?"

"Sure, no problem."

"Thanks."

* * *

Cromartie's computer alerted him to a new event in the police database. He examined it and found that it was Sarah Connor at a bank robbery. He took off knowing that where Sarah Connor was John Connor had to be close by.

* * *

John jumped as a loud pounding and banging began at the vault door. He turned to look at Cameron.

"Is that Cromartie?"

"Most likely. He was probably monitoring the police networks and quickly came over here."

John was wondering why he would be in LA when it occurred to him that he would probably have a large list of Sarah and his know associates. A large number of them lived in LA so it made sense for him to run out here.

The pounding was getting really loud and Sarah was getting more upset by the minute.

"Cameron, how long till this thing is ready?"

"It is ready now. Get to the center and I will activate it."

They all quickly gathered in the center just as Cameron pressed the execute button. As they disappeared in a big blue ball of lightning Cromartie was just able to break down part of the vault door.

The time displacement device caused a massive explosion that disrupted Cromartie's already fragile power supply and he shutdown getting buried in a huge pile of ruble in the process.

* * *

It was the tenth day after the bank explosion and Special Agent Ellison found himself again slowing walking over the scene. He had been there everyday as soon as the fire-marshal had said it was safe to enter. No one had any idea of what caused the massive exposition but it had turned the bank into a twisted mess of nothing.

To him it looked like someone had used a large air dropped bomb to take out the building. He had seen several such acts of destruction before. He knew that isn't what had happened but with the way things were going it wouldn't have surprised him.

He still couldn't fathom why Sarah would come here to rob some bank. She was always able to find herself work or a guy that would help take care of her and her son. Also, she always tried to keep a very low profile so why in the world would she do something that would draw immense amounts of attention.

As he stepped over "something" he bent down and examined the dirt. A part of a safety deposit box stared up at him. Nothing really of importance and he continued thinking.

He still didn't know who the third person was with Sarah. He figured that John had to be one of them but the third was still a mystery. There was that girl from Gallup, New Mexico, but several people had said that she had gotten shot.

Thinking about Gallup really made him pause. Nineteen people there said that the shooter was a guy with some kind of robot leg and then the swat team had said that as they were just about to enter a guy drove up and charged in.

They had tried to stop him, but he just knocked them back. One guy had even hit in the back of the head and it didn't phase him. The guy that had hit him said, "He was some kind of freaky machine." When Agent Ellison had questioned him further he had reported that when he hit the back of his head the skin broke open and he saw chrome shinning back at him. It was at that point that they backed off and went back to their commanders to ask what in the heck they should do.

What also bothered him is that the description of the shooter in Gallup and the guy at the bank matched up very closely. He wasn't a man to believe in coincidences like this happening out of the blue. There was a connection but he couldn't see it yet.

He stopped his thinking and looked all around him trying to take in the scene all at once. There were still lots of people milling about but a woman had just come by him that he didn't recognize. She was about 5' 4" tall, weighting about 110 pounds, and had very pretty light brown hair which came down just past her shoulders. He put her at about 25 years old and the jacket she was wearing indicated that she worked for the city planning office.

He figured he would walk over and introduce himself but as he got closer something she did something that put him off. She had walked right over to where the only recognizable part of the building remained and then pulled some sort of electronic device out.

He had seen a lot of nifty electronic equipment but none of it could do what her little thing was doing. The display was "projected" from the device into the air just a little bit above it. Several things flashed across it and she quickly put it away headed out of the wreckage. It seems like she might be someone who could answer some of his questions so he followed her.

Once she went down an alley he heard her talking.

* * *

She had just finished her analysis. It wasn't very good but at least they were getting somewhere with the time-jumps that were happening. The agency had been able to confine the timespace affected once they detected the first time-jump.

She phoned in and was greeted by Jacobs.

"So what did you find Daria?"

"This one was a jump forward. It appears that they jumped to April 19, 2007. There were three of them in the jump. None of the technology survived but it shares the same basic operating characteristics as the others. We really need to find one of the machines so we can track the designers down. Only a few make such a ass backwards jump system."

"I know, I know. So, what we have is the jumps to 1963, 1984, 1991, and 1999. Now we have a jump from 1999 to 2007. It looks like we have made some progress. Follow them and track down the source."

"How far does my authorization go to find it?"

"Use whatever means you deem necessary and Daria don't let us down."

"I won't sir."

* * *

Agent Ellison had only heard half of the conversation and he really wanted to know what this woman knew but knew he wouldn't have time to wait for backup.

With his gun drawn he rounded the corner.

"Freeze FBI. Put your hands up in the air and stay where you are."

"I guess I should be more careful to check if people are following me," she said as she slowly put her hands in the air.

He walked up to her very carefully and grabbed his handcuffs but as he grabbed her left wrist to attach the handcuff she moved.

He found himself face down on the ground will all the wind knocked out of him. He never even saw her move and the force of the blow was immense. If a rib wasn't broken he would thank God several extra times today.

He was able to spot her just off to his left entering a few things into her little device he saw before. After she was done she looked and him and winked and then just like a magic show faded from view. He blinked a few times trying to make sure that he hadn't just lost part of his eyesight but everything appeared fine.

As he slowly got to his feet he wondered just what in the heck is going on.

* * *

**Notes:** Yea we are finally forward in time where I can really start to twist things. I wanted to somewhat match up with the series for the first story arc so that I could tie in interesting things that happen during the TV showing. When I started I had no idea it was going to take this many words to get to this point. Oh well.

Sorry about the large amount of mistakes that might exist in the chapter with the grammar. I wanted to finish it before I went to sleep and will clean it up later.

Update: I fixed a large number of the typos and grammar problem. Don't write when tired that is for sure. Also, in case anyone is wondering why I didn't have Cromartie charge all the way into the vault like in the series, it is because I really didn't like how they had it head fly off and come through with them. According to the rules on living objects can't travel through time and it didn't make any sense to me.

JoshK1o25: Don't worry I won't be skipping any time areas of the story. I plan to have a nice and steady progression.

* * *


	6. Timelag

* * *

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Terminator characters.**

* * *

Daria was sitting on a purloined lawn chair on a hill that over looked the 105 freeway. She had setup a sensor network around the area and now was just waiting. While their equipment could track where and when these time displacements occur well, they could only track them to within 12 hours of an event. So, she had been sitting here most of the day going over things.

When the agency had detected the first jump in they quickly sealed off the affected part of timespace. However, a large amount of damage had already been done. While what they had done prevented those behind this from jumping outside of 2039 or back beyond 1952 it was still a large area that could be used to cause immense amounts of damage and anything past 2011 was proof enough of that. It was a bleak and horrible landscape that she had only seen two other times on different missions.

Jacobs had called her in to get to work on this because she was their best agent. She had been around for a few hundred years and had seen just about everything but so far this case had prevented her with some interesting surprises. The first she wasn't expecting was that she had been unable to track down the originator. It had completely eluded her and frankly it was pissing her off.

The second thing was the signature of the time machines being used. They were a horrible design that when used would twist several timelines into each other causing many of the possibilities present in the timelines to disappear. When machines like these where used frequently and over a spread of time it is possible to steer the timeline into a specific direction that is impossible to avoid.

Her thinking was interrupted by a beeping from her scanner. She grabbed the binoculars from her lap and began watching. As the electrical storm grew a small frown of distaste appeared on her face and with a quick bright flash three people appeared. One guy and two girls of about the same height and weight.

As the cars on the freeway had come to a stretching stop she found herself holding in a chuckle because all three of them were as bare as the day there were born. Two of them looked really embarrassed over the whole ordeal while the other one appeared to not have a care in the world. She wondered why they came that way and would inquire them about it. To her it seemed silly to appear naked in the middle of nowhere.

Her scanner beeped a few times and she brought the results up on the HUD on the binoculars. Apparently the the brown haired girl was a cybernetic. Very interesting. She quickly memorized all their features and noticed a warning about the boy appear. Her scanners indicated that he was a secondary result of a timeloop. Finally, it was about time some real results appeared.

As they ran off down the hill she started to collect her equipment. She would enjoy having a nice long talk with those three and with the signatures she had collected it wouldn't be hard to track them down later. She decided that she would bother them later as she a few more places to inspect that had recent jump traffic.

* * *

"Well that was embarrassing," John said to no one in particular. He was really glad to have Cameron around as she had dragged them off the freeway quickly and rounded them up a car and some clothes. He wasn't expecting time travel to be so disorienting and it had given him one heck of a headache.

"John are you ok?"

"I'm fine mom. I just have a pretty bad headache."

"I know what you mean."

John saw Cameron look back at him in the rear view mirror and he smiled at her. She was driving them back to Gallup. When he told his mom where they needed to go she was very confused but didn't pester him about it.

With how his head was feeling it seemed the best thing to do was get some rest.

"I'm going to go to sleep. Wake me if you need anything."

* * *

Sarah turned and watched her son stretch out across the back seat. She reached out and rubbed his back a little. She was still really worried about what they were doing but John had made it very clear that he wasn't going to stand idly by anymore and it scared the heck out of her.

It wasn't long before she heard a slight snoring from the back seat and wished that she could go to sleep herself but she had too much anxiety built up.

"So, what is in Gallup?"

"John and I had stored a package of identifying documents, money, and a few guns. He planned to retrieve them once we jumped to be able to quickly obtain vital resources."

Maybe it was time to finally let go. He was always thinking several steps ahead and planning things out well and this was just another example of that resourcefulness at work. She didn't want to think about it much and wanted ask their metal friend some other questions.

"How do you feel about John?"

"I don't understand your question?"

"At the hotel in LA when I came back with the pizza you two were snuggled up together. It appears that John likes you but can you feel the same way about him?"

"I don't know. Skynet gave my series rudimentary emotions to help us be more effective. However, it also caused troublesome problems that would slowly damage our CPU processing ability until we became useless. Because of this problem Skynet only sent us out on very short missions and did not again try to put emotions into another Terminator."

"Is that how Tech-Com acquired you?"

"Yes, my systems had mostly failed and I was barely functional. Once I was taken back to the Skynet Technology Repurposing Lab, Commander Connor personally worked on me for several months adjusting my neural network processor."

"So, do you still have emotions?"

"Yes and no. My original Skynet programming that allows me to analyze the emotions people are displaying is still present but Commander Conner's work on my emotional processing system replaced everything that Skynet had designed. He didn't explain much about what these changes would do or how they would affect me but only stated that I would discover it on my own. I have asked John about some of this earlier because I have noticed that my interactions with him cause an emotional response that seems warm."

Sarah was dumb founded. She had often been worried about how lonely her son would become if for some reason she died protecting him and realized that apparently the John of the future worried about the same thing. Just like the last Terminator would have made the perfect father figure for her son this one could be what would be best for him in a much needed partner. She was both happy and sad about her son's fate.

"I'm sure things will become clear to you as time goes on. Just be very careful with John, ok?"

Cameron gave her a reassuring smile and continued to drive. Sarah found that her anxiety had drained away and soon joined John in an uneasy slumber.

* * *

Charlie Dixon found himself staring at the news as they showed a video taken on the 105 freeway showing a naked Sarah and John. He wasn't sure what in the world to make of it as it had been eight years since he had last seen them and it appeared that nothing had changed.

* * *

Agent Ellison was very surprised to see Sarah Connor make the evening news naked on the 105 freeway. After eight long years without a single trace as to their whereabouts they suddenly show up in a most spectacular fashion.

He figured that soon his life was going to get very complicated again with more strange unanswered questions.

* * *

John slowly woke up. The events of the last few days had really worn him out and it was nice to get some sleep. He had some really strange dreams but like most dreams they were quickly fading from memory.

He stretched a bit and noticed that his ankle still really hurt. He hoped that he wouldn't have to do any running soon. As he looked around he saw that his mom was fast asleep on the passenger side while Cameron was still driving.

"Where are we?"

"Just outside of Gallup."

"Wow. I didn't expect that I would sleep that long. How long have you been driving?"

"9 hours and 25 minutes."

John sat all the way up and looked around and just turned a few things over in his mind. He wasn't sure exactly where they should get started in their quest to stop Skynet It could be hiding almost anywhere in the world. Also, Cameron had told them that other resistance fighters and Terminator's were present here carrying out various mission.

What those Terminator's Skynet had sent back were doing would be important in finding out how to track Skynet down. How they were going to find them was a bit of a problem though. He figured that like any group or government preparing for war that Skynet would try to stockpile weapons and supplies. So, all they needed to do was figure out what and where those were.

He resolved to ask Cameron for more details on the beginning of the war later as they were now entering Gallup.

* * *

It hadn't taken Cameron long to locate the storage box that John and her had buried just after they had gotten married. It contained a copy of their marriage license, fake birth certificates, photo ID, some money, and two guns.

She came back to the car where John and Sarah were waiting.

"Any problems?"

"No. Everything is still intact and in good shape."

"Great! See mom, this was a good idea of mine."

Sarah rolled her eyes and got into the car and John just laughed at her as he got in as well. Cameron guessed that Sarah still wished that John would have talked with her before taking such actions but Cameron knew that John was pulling away. He no longer had to rely on his mother for everything and was going to stand on his own.

"Come on Cameron. Lets get going."

"Sorry."

She climbed into the car and started to drive off.

"Where are we going next John?"

"Lets find a hotel in Albuquerque and then go over what our next move should be."

* * *

They were all gathered in a small hotel outside of Albuquerque to plan out what they should do next.

"Ok, the first thing we need to do is get all the identification finished. Cameron and I will head out tomorrow to the local MVD to get new driver licenses since these ones are expired. We need to figure out what we should for ID for you mom."

"We can just go see Enrique to get me taken care."

"I don't think that is a good idea. We should try to avoid all contact with people we once knew to make it much harder for any Terminators to locate us. We should find another way."

"John is right. Skynet has a detailed list of all of your known associates. It is a very through compilation."

"Ok. It will be hard to get me ID then John. It isn't like you can just walk in off the street and find someone who will take your business for something like that."

"True. Cameron, didn't you tell me that one of the resistance groups that was sent back had a good ID guy."

"Yes. One of the groups sent back to 2007 and is currently located in Virginia gathering intel on possible people that could be involved in Skynet's creation has a very good counterfeiter."

"Perfect. We will head out that way after tomorrow. Why are they located in Virginia?"

"Based on the way the missiles were launched it is believe that Skynet was created with funds or contracts handed out by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency which is headquarter in Virginia."

"Well that makes sense. Do you know if there is involvement in other countries?"

"Because of the damage done by Judgement Day very little is know about what involvement Skynet might have in other countries' military. However, it is an important consideration."

"We will just have to cross that bridge when we come to it."

"I don't understand. There aren't any bridges that link the Americas to other countries."

John found himself grinning and could see that his mom was having trouble holding in her laughter as well.

"It means that we can't take of it right now and it will have to be dealt with later."

"Thank you for explaining."

* * *

Later that night at the house of a Mark Green Anthony, who owned a successful construction and cleanup company, his good friend Eric Best was coming over. About two years ago when his company had finally gotten around to recycling the scape from cleanup of Security Trust of LA several of his employees had called him over to look at something they found.

What they had found was a strange sort of skeleton made out of metal. He figured that it must have been some strange show piece an executive had made or something like that. He had it cleaned up and he took it home thinking that it would be an interesting conversation piece.

One day when his friend Eric had come over and saw it and he was amazed. Eric had gone into electronics and worked in a robotics firm programming things that welded cars parts and such. He let Eric poke at it as much as he wanted and it wasn't long before Eric found what he thought was a power supply.

Eric had taken the power supply home and for the last few months had been trying to figure out how it worked. He didn't have any success but had called him just an hour ago saying that he finally figured it out and wanted to try hocking it up.

Mark was rather interested in what the thing might do as well. He guessed it would light up and maybe talk. Still it would be fun to see if they could get it to work.

Eric came walking up holding the power supply. He had nice big smile on his face which got Mark excited too.

"So, what did you figure out?"

"It's a fuel cell. Two weeks ago I was at a training session about some of the manufacturing requirements for the prototype fuel cell cars when it hit me what this thing was. Once I knew that I was able to find the small leak in it. Once I had that fixed I just had to replace the hydrogen that was missing and it should work now."

"That's pretty odd. Oh well lets get this thing hooked up."

* * *

**:Initial startup complete  
****:Starting diagnostics**

**:Primary Powersupply 0 percent usable  
****:Secondary Powersupply 43 percent usable  
****:All servos fully usable  
****:Frame integrity is 73 percent, damage present  
****:Right rear frame armor 52 percent effective  
****:Left rear frame armor 91 percent effective  
****:WARNING – Biological covering is not present**

**:System startup complete**

Cromartie looked around and noticed two men in their early forties looking at him. He appeared to be up on some kind of pedestal and inside some sort of display case that currently had the front open.

His internal clock had been reset and he had no idea how much time had passed since the bank had collapsed onto him.

"What is the current date?"

"Wow! It can talk. This is really cool." Spoke the one on the right of him and then he answered him, "It is April 19, 2008."

Eight years had passed since he saw the target disappear in a time displacement machine. He didn't know where they had gone to or if they were even located in this time period but he was going to find out as that was his mission.

He stepped out of the case and onto the floor and examined both of them. The one on the left had clothes that would be able to sufficiently cover him.

"Your clothes. Give them to me."

"What?"

"Your clothes. Give them to me."

"Uh, not a chance. Now you listen here we fixed you so you should do what we..."

The man didn't get a chance to finish what he was going to say as Cromartie reached out and snapped his neck. The other man seeing his friend fall lifeless to ground turned and ran.

Cromartie quickly put on the clothes and searched in the garage for a mask, goggles, and a hat to cover his face. It didn't take him very long to find them.

He went outside and took the car that was present in the driveway as he again began his search for John Connor.

* * *

John and Cameron where walking to a MVD office that was close by. John had wanted to walk instead of drive to get some fresh air and enjoy a little break. Sarah didn't like the idea but Cameron had informed them that only Cromartie knew what John looked like. So, if there were any Terminators out and about that saw them they wouldn't know who John was and would just walk on by. Her statement seemed to calm Sarah but she still didn't like it.

"John I have a small problem."

He turned to look at her, "What is it?"

"The script I was using to help blend in and assist me in providing the correct responses isn't working anymore."

John looked confused as he asked, "Why not?"

"It appears that much has changed in the way people dress and behave in the last eight years. While it may not seem different to you it is very different to my systems. These differences are too big for my CPU to be able compensate for."

"Can't you just make changes to it?"

"To create it or adjust it requires an immense amount of computing power and special adjustments that you did in the future. At this point it is impossible for me to correct."

"Alright, so I guess you will just have to learn how to handle emotions on your own now. Just ask me for any help you need and I will try my best to give it to you. Now I have a question, how come you seem very normal to me?"

"It is because I am accustomed to your behaviors and actions. I have more trouble with Sarah but am getting better."

"Ok. Well, just do your best."

She gave him a nice warm smile and took his hand. He was always very nice to her and in the future when they were prepping her to be sent back he tried to be as nice as possible. Many of the other soldiers hated her she could tell, but John was different.

As she spent more time here she was suspecting that there were other reasons she was sent back instead of a more durable model. Perhaps John didn't need just a protector but also a close friend and confidant.

She would talk to him about it later as they had just arrived at the MVD office.

* * *

After a little paperwork, new pictures, and an eye examine Cameron and him now had a nice new paid of drivers licenses and were walking back to the hotel hand in hand. She found herself to be in a rather good mood over just being alone with John.

"John, I have been thinking that perhaps Commander Connor had sent me back with an additional purpose."

"How so?"

"There are other models that the resistance have captured that are much more durable than me and my battle with T-888 made it very clear that I would have a hard time protecting you if I fight them head on. It made me began to think that I wasn't going to be good enough at the job I was assigned which bothered me in a strange way."

"Don't worry about your abilities compared to the others. I will find a way to keep you and me in one piece."

"Thank you. I think I was sent to be more than just your protector."

"I know."

Cameron gave him a surprised look. How could he know? Unless he had been thinking of same things and if he was then his insight into how a Terminator's mind worked was very impressive.

"Don't look so surprised. I had promised myself a long time ago that the next one I sent back who be someone like you. Remember when you read my journal?"

"Yes I remember."

"Well the entries in there about the death of the last one were trying to express my sadness over the event and how much it hurt me. I had also come to realize that I needed a special friend if I was going to be fighting this war or else I risked loosing my humanity. Now don't ask about the timeline ordering with this as it is hard to explain, but that was my promise to myself."

She was happy, at least that what she was calling this warm feeling currently, over what John had told her. It also opened the door to other possibilities in their relationship which made her even happier. A very strange thing for a Terminator indeed.

* * *

It was late that night and John woke up from a nightmare. It was one of the usual ones where the world is destroyed in a blaze of fire and everyone blames him for not stopping Skynet. The usual stuff but it always made him wake up in a cold sweat.

He got out of bed and washed himself off with some cold water from the sink. He looked back at the clock and saw that it was 3:43am. Well he was rather awake and figured it would be fun to sit outside for a little bit.

As he was getting dressed, trying to be as quite as possible, he saw Cameron get up and walk over to him.

"Where are you going?"

"Nowhere. I just woke up from a bad dream and wanted to sit outside for a bit. What to come with me?"

She nodded her head and he started for the door with Cameron following him but he stopped and turned to her. She was only wearing her standard t-shirt and panties to bed. He knew the cold wouldn't bother her but her appearance would bother him.

"Put some clothes on. It will attract attention otherwise."

After she had gotten dressed and they were outside and John was happy to see that his mom didn't notice them leave. Apparently, the time displacement had worn her out quite a bit. He couldn't blame her as he still felt a bit off as well.

They walked together onto a nearby grassy hill and sat down. It was a nice night and wasn't very cold at all, a nice property of the southern states. Soon they would be leaving for Virgina and he wondered what the weather would like over there.

"What are you thinking about?"

"Nothing really. I was just thinking about how nice weather is. It is nice to not have to think about the serious issues all the time."

"I would have to agree," said an unknown voice behind them.

* * *

Cameron quickly jumped up, when she heard the voice, and turned to face whoever it was. Her systems didn't even register that someone was close by and she resolved to run a full diagnostic after they got back to determine how she had missed this person.

As Cameron got a full look at the person her scanners indicated that she was a human female of about 110 pounds and 5' 4" tall. She had light brown hair that came past her shoulders and was wearing a plain light blue t-shirt and regular blue jeans. She began a facial recognition scan to see if she knew anything about this person.

**:WARNING – Extreme Danger  
****:Unlocking Classified SKYNET operations data  
****:Person is Daria Wells, TIEA enforcer  
****:SKYNET DIRECTIVE – New primary mission, evade and report at all costs  
****:TECH-COM OVERRIDE – SKYNET commands disabled**

She was surprised by the readout from her HUD but knew one thing for sure this person was very dangerous.

"John run. Run Now!"

"No, we stick together. Always."

She knew he wasn't going to leave her and considered tossing him as far as she could away from here, but knew that he would come back anyways. So, she charged in.

She put all her strength into the punch she aimed for the woman's chest hoping to kill her in the first strike. However, the woman moved almost faster than she could track and drove her elbow into Carmon's back slamming her to the ground. The power of the blow was far stronger than any normal human's but was slightly less than a T-888.

She started to get up but the woman got on top of her and somehow her weight increased a hundred fold and drove Cameron back to the ground. She felt the woman grab her arms and pull them behind her, even with her struggling as hard as she could, and she wrapped some sort of thin cord around her wrists and elbows. She then grabbed Cameron's legs and wrapped the same material around her ankles and then attached her wrists and ankles together.

As she got off Cameron tried to move but found that the material was far too strong for her to break and gave up. She turned her head looking for John and found him running, limping slightly from his ankle, towards them intend on attacking the woman himself.

He had pulled out a knife but she knew it would be ineffective against this woman especially since it only took her 6.5 seconds to render Cameron harmless.

"John, no. Run. Get away from here!"

"Hold on there boy. I won't hurt your or you friend here if you calm down and talk to me. I have only restrained her. Alright."

"John, don't believe her. Get away from here."

John's expression was very pained and she could tell he was running several ideas through his head. As John put the knife away Cameron knew he was going to talk to the woman and was both happy that he wouldn't leave her but very upset that he was putting himself in extreme danger.

"Ok, so what do you want to talk about?"

* * *

**Notes**: Ok, one of the things that has really bugged in the series is how Sarah always seems to be on constant PMS mode. Also, in T2 she came to respect and trust the Terminator but in the series none of that seems to be developing and I think it is stupid, so I'm nixing that problem.

Another thing that really bothered me is the headless Terminator is able to control its body and guide it. That seemed really stupid and silly to me so I got ride of that as well.

In T2 we learned that the Terminators have a heat sink system to provide alternate power. Now since Cromartie had both power supplies damaged I had him just shutdown as there wasn't enough heat to power him and he had nowhere to store the energy even if he could slowly collect it.

Also, I'm taking a somewhat different approach to how come Cameron had so much trouble interacting with people after the time jump. I really wondered what the shows writers were thinking when they did that as it doesn't make any sense. One moment she is pretty normal and then she can't figure anything out. WTF.


	7. Liability

* * *

**Disclaimer:** **I don't own any of the Terminator characters.**

* * *

Fast, way too damn fast. The woman who had caught them off guard was way too damn fast. He had never seen anyone move like her and couldn't believe that she was anything other than some new model Terminator. His mind was racing away trying to find a way out of their current problem but nothing was coming to him.

He felt trapped and as he looked at Cameron lying on the ground tied up and helpless he knew he couldn't leave her so he pulled a knife he had on him and charged forward even with his ankle giving him fits of pain.

"John, no. Run. Get away from here!"

He could see the pain and hurt on her face at being unable to do nothing against this enemy and he resolved that he wasn't going to loose her. It didn't matter if he died or not as the emotional furry had taken almost all reason from his mind. He knew only one thing, that he was going to get this woman who had hurt his wife.

"Hold on there boy. I won't hurt your or you friend here if you calm down and talk to me. I have only restrained her. Alright."

As the woman said that reason was able to claw its way back into his mind. He needed time to come up with a plan and the only option he had was to stall. It was apparent that she could have easily attacked and killed him in the same short time she had captured Cameron. So, if she wanted to talk he would talk.

"John, don't believe her. Get away from here."

Cameron's voice caused him an immense amount of pain. He tried to remain clam and in control but he knew that the pain was showing on his face. He just felt so helpless and useless at not being able to do anything for her and it was eating him up inside, but he would have to play by this woman's rules for a bit as she currently had all the advantages. He put away his knife and looked at his enemy wondering just what Skynet wanted from him currently.

"Ok, so what do you want to talk about?"

"Several different things. I was hoping to have a nice and reasonable conversation but your girlfriend apparently didn't like my interruption."

"How about you let her go?"

She looked at him a bit with her arms crossed. He felt as if she was looking through his entire existence, evaluating every ounce of everything he had ever done. Even though she looked to only be in her twenties, her eyes betrayed her as they glowed with a knowledge of years far beyond her apparent age. It was a spooky feeling and it raised the hairs on the back of his neck.

"Since your girlfriend is a cybernetic I'm not sure that would be a good idea. However, I will give you a compromise."

With that she pulled a device from a pocked and entered a few things into it. Once she was done and had put the device back into her pocket the cords on Cameron's ankles had disappeared. The woman helped Cameron to her feet and allowed her to return to John.

"I'm not going to completely free her until I am done talking with you and don't think about running away because there isn't a person in this world would could remove her bindings but me. Got it?"

John nodded to her as he was looking over Cameron. The strange cords binding her where a white color but had a strange, almost silky quality to them. He didn't know how true her statement was but she didn't seem like she had any plans to let either of them go now so it appeared that talking was still the best option.

"John lets run anyway. I'm sure that we can find a way to remove these restraints." Cameron whispered to him as quietly as she could.

"I can hear you just fine but I'm afraid you are wrong about those restraints. They are a complex nano technology that has bound itself to your structure. So, enough of the useless talk. Lets go sit and talk over there."

There was a simple picnic table about a hundred yards off. John wrapped his arm around Cameron and together they made their way over to the table with their new friend not far behind.

After they had all sat down the woman looked and each of them and sighed.

"Ok, lets start over. My name is Daria. I can tell from her screams earlier that your name is John so that just leaves your name miss."

"Cameron."

"Alright. Now could you tell me why you attacked me right out of the blue."

Cameron turned to look at him and he could see what appeared to be fear lurking behind her eyes. He reached over and embraced her in a tight hug resolving to find someway out of this mess. He tried to give her his best smile and it appeared to offer her some comfort.

"My systems reported that you are Daria Wells, a TIEA enforcer, and reported that you were extremely dangerous."

"Well that sure is unexpected. I have been running all over the place trying to track down what the heck is going on. I haven't spent any significant amount of time in any one place in time so I'm amazed that you not only know my name but who I work for."

"Who is TIEA," asked John.

"I don't know. My systems didn't report any more information about her. Just that Skynet wanted to know any intel I had about her. It was an old Skynet directive that was still present in my systems."

"Odd. You aren't fully self-aware yet are you? It appears that you are a cybernetic that is AI based like the others of your kind that are everywhere in the future, but you seem a bit special."

"I don't know how to define being self-aware so I am unable to answer your question."

"Ok. So, John what is your relationship with her."

"She's my wife."

"Interesting. I wasn't expecting such things to exist in this time. Is it common for these relationships between humans and cybernetics?"

"Alright enough. I don't want to talk about these stupid things when you are holding me and Cameron hostage."

She sighed a bit and sat up all the way and gave both of them a cool stare.

"What do you know about TIEA?"

"Nothing. Information about what TIEA is or what it does wasn't present."

"TIEA stands for Time Irregularity Elimination Agency. We track down and eliminate time irregularities caused by time travelers, such as you two. Now I don't like either of you very much because time travelers always causes a large amount of work for me. I really hate you both for using such a dangerous machine to do your jumping around with."

"Who is TIEA and what do you want to accomplish with us? What is so bad about those time displacement devices?"

"Time displacement, what a strange name for it. Those machines are used to help ensure the creation of a specific event or series of events. I'm not going into the details as you wouldn't understand them, but suffice it to say that every point along the timeline is formed of branches based on the possibilities of events. With me so far?"

They both gave her a yes.

"Now what if it was possible to move the branches into a different area so that the possibilities that pointed one way are now linked to a different one. Now if you think about it, all one would have to do to get something to be an event that would have to happen is change specific key branches so that they must now travel through the wanted area no matter what happens later in those branches. Make sense?"

John had to really think for a bit about what she was trying to say, but it did finally come to him. On a tree all the branches had to go through the trunk to get the water needed by them. Even if you grafted on a different tree it would still have to do the same thing. Rather complex and confusing but he could see it.

"Yea, sure."

"Good. This is exactly what that machine you used is doing. Those 'time displacements' are actually altering the course of the path of the branches in the timeline and changing how they flow. The technology was banned because of this property. Now I want to know who designed the machine?"

It hit him. By using those machines Skynet was ensuring its creation. It didn't matter how much they tried to alter history because if enough damage had already occurred to the timeline the creation of Skynet was an eventuality not a possibility.

He stared at her in complete horror and said, "My God."

Her face seemed to soften a bit at his response.

"Well, I guess you know about the future that is lying in wait and you can now see what the use of these machines has caused. So, just tell me who designed them and where I can find them."

John looked at Cameron and said, "Tell her anything you know."

"Very little is directly known about the creation of the time displacement devices, only that Skynet constructed them. I do not know if Skynet was the designer or just the builder."

"I don't know much about this Skynet so tell me everything you know."

After John nodded to her Cameron talked for about an hour and half and according to his watch it was coming up on 5:50am, which if they didn't return soon Sarah was going to go nuts. Cameron had told her everything about Skynet's war on mankind, its creation, and their battle. Daria just nodded along and interrupted only a few times for more information or clarification. All in all, it was a story he had heard many times, just not with Cameron's accurate detailing.

"What a mess. I had hoped to get things cleared up but it appears that a lot more work is needed. John you are also a bit of a problem in this because you are a secondary consideration in the timeloop. Problems like you often appear when these sorts of things happen. The main question is if your existence was planned to ensure the occurrence of this future or a side effect."

"It would seem illogical for Skynet to always try to kill John if he is needed to ensure the creation of it," Cameron told Daria.

Cameron was shifting again in his arms. Since she could feel things like any normal person he figured that the bindings must be really bothering her, but knew that she wouldn't complain so he started to rub her arms as best he could. She looked at him with a sad smile that said volumes to him. He could tell how bothered she was by her current predicament but happy that he was trying to look out of her.

"Can you take these bindings off of her now? We have been very helpful and talked to you all you wanted so you should follow your end of the bargain."

The look that Daria gave him sent chills down his back. It reminded him of the dreams he would often have of the never ending blackness that contained all the voices and screams of the people that could never be saved from Judgment Day.

"John there is one way to start breaking down the timeloop and that is to remove your existence."

Cameron kicked at Daria so hard that she flew from John's grip and broke the table apart into several pieces. However, Daria had caught Cameron's leg and was now sitting on them pinning her position.

"It would be helpful if you let me finish everything I have to say before attacking," said Daria to Cameron.

"Now, John I don't want to use that option because this Skynet system may not be what I am after and I will need the both of you to help me hunt it. The reason I doubt Skynet is behind all of this is because our sensors recorded a jump into the year 2039 and then quickly to 1984. It seems impossible for it to be this Skynet system so what I am looking for is someone who is very knowledgeable about timelines."

"Also, I promised not to hurt either of you. So, I have kept my end of the bargain."

"Ok. So can you get off of her now?"

Daria got off of Cameron and John came over to help her up. Daria pulled her little device out of her pocket and typed on it a bit and then the bindings on Cameron's wrists and elbows parted and seemed to disappear.

Cameron had just started to rub them when suddenly the bindings appeared again as long threads snaking around her and pulling her arms back into the position they had just been in. Cameron's ankles had also been tied again and she quickly lost her balance and started to fall over when John rushed over and caught her.

"What the heck?"

Daria again typed something and then all the restraints disappeared.

"What are you doing to her?"

"Here's the deal. You two are going to help me. Now I believe that you might have done it anyway but I am using a bit of insurance anyway. I have seen far to much to just trust you blindly. If you help me your wife will be just fine but if you don't she will be suck all tied up until you do. If you try to double cross or cheat me I will have them rip her apart into tiny pieces. Do you understand?"

He couldn't believe this woman. How could someone be so cruel to use a loved one in this manner. He knew that he currently didn't have anyway to fight her if he needed to, but he knew one thing and that was if she ever really hurt Cameron he would hunt her down no matter where she went. He would not rest until he had tracked her down and killed her.

"Yes."

"Good. Now I am going to be leaving you two and I want you both to keep on searching for Skynet. I will contact you later with specific things I want taken care of. Also, don't get more than about ten miles apart or Cameron will end up all helpless again."

He was about to ask her a few more things when she just faded from sight. He blinked a few times wondering if his eyes had played a trick on him but everything was fine. Well not really.

He looked down and noticed that Cameron was silently crying in his arms. He couldn't believe what he was seeing. It was both the most beautiful and most horrible thing he had ever seen. He began to rock her back and forth just humming a little tune.

It was only a few minutes, but it felt far longer to him, when she stopped.

"Cameron what's wrong?"

"I failed you. I can't protect you anymore and it hurts. It hurts so bad and I don't know why."

She was changing and growing emotionally faster then he expected, but she didn't understand what was happening to her. He knew that he had to support her and guide her down this path of awakening, but it was going to be very hard at times he was certain.

"No you didn't fail. We are team you and I. This is just another problem we have to work around and for once I need to protect and save you."

"But I'm a liability to you now. She can use me to get to you at anytime and you will always have to be around me."

"Don't worry about it, I like being around you."

She had stopping crying and was just sniffling and it made him laugh.

"Why are you laughing, there isn't any humor present in this situation?"

"I know. Lets get back before mom finds out. Also, lets not tell her about this right now. We will just go on with our regular plans for now while you and I think of a way out of this mess."

"Ok."

They headed back to the hotel room hoping that they wouldn't wake Sarah on the way in.

* * *

**Notes: **This is an odd chapter. John now has a new enemy/ally that he can't trust and is just going to use him and at the same time it broke Cameron down.

Now some of you may wonder what in the world I was thinking and it had occurred to me a few days ago that it would be very ironic and funny if a Terminator could be the typical Damsel in Distress. It was so odd and different that I couldn't resist the opportunity to do it.


	8. The Devil

* * *

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Terminator Characters**

* * *

Sarah stretched and finally sat up in the bed. The clock read 10:19am and it had been ages since she sleep so late. It must have last been when she was still a teenager. It sure felt good though.

She got up and looked around and saw that John was snoring away in the other bed. She walked over to get him up and when she got over to the bed a surprise greeted her. Cameron was laying right next to John with her head snuggled up on his shoulder. It bugged her a bit but for some reason it wasn't nearly the crisis it had been that first night. Maybe it was how she could now see something more than just a killing machine inside of Cameron. She sighed and decided that she wasn't going to bug them about being together this time.

"John lets get moving. It is almost 10:30am and it would be good to get on the road before checkout time."

"Huh. Oh yea, sure mom."

John's expression suddenly changed to one of mild panic as it must have occurred to him that she was looking at him and Cameron sleeping together.

"Uh, mom. I was just...um, well she, uh."

She couldn't help herself and let out a big chuckle. It was so funny seeing John at a complete loss for words. It felt good being able to enjoy a silly moment.

"Don't worry John. I'm not going to yell at you for it. I think she is going to be needed by you in this way unfortunately."

As Sarah looked at Cameron she could see a small smile on her face. It still amazed her how close to a person she could appear to be. If Skynet had been able to build them like this from the beginning the resistance wouldn't have had a chance.

"Cameron, just do you best to keep him whole."

"I don't entirely understand, but I will fully commit myself to John's betterment."

"Thanks. So, lets get our stuff loaded into the car and head out to Virginia."

* * *

Agent Ellison entered the door of the crime scene he had been called to help with. Usually the FBI wasn't called in on a regular murder but the person murdered was a government researcher that was working on some classified projects.

The last time he had been called out to a crime scene must have been about 10 years ago, but the blood sample had matched up with his case in Gallup, New Mexico. It was a very strange blood in that it didn't have any red blood cells in it. How it showed up here was certainly a mystery.

As he looked around he noticed that blood was everywhere. Not just a little bit of it either but all over the place like someone had emptied several buckets full of it inside the place.

One of the walls caught his attention. There was a large amount of writing on the wall and it appeared to be some sort of equation and it reminded him of the organic chemistry books he had used in college. The perpetrator had tried to erase most of with by wiping it down with blood from the scene. Very strange.

He entered the bathroom and corrected himself. Apparently, it was a bathtub full of blood instead of several buckets full. The victim was laying on the floor with his neck apparently broken. Very strange was the fact that the victim was missing his eyes. What could it mean? With all the lab equipment present in the house and other clues this didn't feel like a murder with a message attached. It was just a hunch, but he suspected that the killer had a need to remove the victim's eyes.

"They took his eyes James. Isn't that just crazy. What the heck do you think was going on here?"

He turned and saw Agent Greta Simpson standing behind him. They were good friends and had been at the bureau together for quite a while.

"I'm not sure but it sure wasn't anything normal. What is all the lab equipment out there for?"

"Don't know yet, but the lab guys are going over all of it. So, why are you here?"

"Blood. One of the samples analyzed in the field kit matches up the blood from the crime scene from that school shooting that happened eight years ago in Gallup, New Mexico."

"That is just crazy James. How could these two cases possibly be connected?"

"I don't know but I bet this only of the start of a string of a set of rather interesting events."

* * *

It was now May 1, 2007. They now had a little house in Arlington County, Virginia, rented by John and Cameron Phillips. It had turned out to be rather easy but they were still going over stuff.

They had not gone straight to the resistance group yet because John wanted some time to get caught up on all related news and history that they missed. That was why John and Cameron had been going to the local library together for almost a week straight. John helped her filter out the unwanted or unneeded material and focus better on what needed to be memorized and relayed to Sarah.

The events of September 11, 2001 were of quite a shock to John and Sarah. After Cameron had gone over the details Sarah had told them 'that if that was the simple destruction of only two buildings what could the future possibly be like'.

However today they were going to be spending time inside going over their planned meeting with the resistance fighters.

Cameron was going over a magazine from the pile of magazines that John had gotten her to help her better understand the humans of the current period. The magazines ranged from all types but mostly were women's magazines that covered fashion and other trends. While John had claimed the material didn't interest him he was able to pick out a good collection for her.

Cameron looked up as John came into the room with Sarah following behind him. She smiled and was happy that he returned it and they both sat down at the table across from her.

"I think we have about everything decided upon to go meet these other guys. Is there anything else we should talk about before leaving?," asked John.

"I believe we have covered all the necessary details. The biggest problem is the high chance of a Terminator being after them."

"That's why you're here. Alright then we all know the plan so lets get going."

Cameron got up after marking her place in the current magazine she was going through, one titled Vanity Fair. She knew that she would need to come along to protect John, and other reasons Sarah didn't yet know about, but her present was going to cause trouble for them. After explaining to them how much most of the resistance fighters hated any Terminator, repurposed or not, John told her that it didn't matter to him. They were just going to have to get over it.

* * *

"Is this the place?", asked Sarah.

"Yes," answered Cameron.

"It is sure is run down. What do you think mom?"

"I wouldn't want to live here."

Cameron thought about it and decided she liked their place better as well. She didn't understand human attachment to appearance of things at first but it was slowing making sense to her. As usual, John's patience with her endless supply of questions was wonderful and just thinking about him made her reach out and grab his hand.

"What floor are they on?," John asked her.

"They should be located in room 319."

As they headed in, the large amount of trash and other debris was giving her scanners a hard time. It took a large amount of work to search all of it for possible Terminators and other threats and a few times she held them up while working through all of it.

Once they were at the stairs she was able to get a small break. There was still plenty of trash everywhere but the area to examine was so much smaller that making it to the third floor wasn't nearly as hard.

"What is that smell?"

"It is a mixture of human excrement, decaying tissues, and rotting food. Do you want more specific details?"

"No that is fine. I was just making a comment."

He must have noticed her quizzical look as his next response was, "I will explain it more fully later."

"Found it. It's down here you two."

Cameron watched as Sarah worked on the lock while John hovered with a gun at the ready. They had tried knocking but no one answered.

She heard a click and Sarah moved out of the way allowing Cameron to enter first. She walked in and didn't notice anyone in the main room. She had switched to thermal imaging but the walls of the next room had been lined with something preventing her being able to know if anyone was present.

She tried the door at the end of the room and found it unlocked and opened it. As soon as she had the door open she noticed two guys. One was looking directly at her and fired something at her. When it impacted everything went dark.

* * *

John had been following Cameron but not very closely in case someone opened fire at them. They really needed to get some body armor soon as that would sure help.

He watched Cameron open the next door and start inside when he heard a strange zapping noise and someone shout out, "METAL!"

As he saw Cameron fall to the floor he rushed after her. He got right up by the door frame and motioned for his mom to get by him and listened to the people in the other room for a bit.

"Mathews get the bags packed. I will use the thermite to roast her."

"Will do, Reese. You think there are anymore around?"

"No. This one was just searching for us, now hurry up."

John looked at his mom and relayed to her that they were going in. He would cover the guy on the right and her the guy on the left.

John jumped in after Cameron and yelled out, "DON'T MOVE OR YOU'RE DEAD!"

The two guys stopped what they were doing and looked at him in disbelief. The one on the right was a man in his early thirties and about 6' 2" tall with short dark brown hair. The guy on the left was about 5' 4" tall with short red hair and he looked to be about 21 maybe.

The guy on the right pointed at Sarah and asked, "Sarah Connor? Is that you?"

Sarah looked to John out of the side of her eyes and he nodded.

"Yea. So who are you?"

* * *

Cameron was sitting in the corner of the room watching everything. After a full round of introductions everyone had put away their guns and gotten down to business. She was stuck keeping away from them because if she tried to interact with them it would raise hell. Ever few minutes or so John would notice one resistance fighters look at her with a grim look and then go back to what they were going.

Aaron Mathews was currently working on a set of papers for Sarah and Derek Reese was going over their investigation of Skynet with John.

"So what is story with this guy?"

John was holding a picture of a guy named Andy Goode which was also contained in the Cyberdyne file.

"We don't much yet. He is interesting because he worked with a guy name Miles Dyson who was the head of AI research at Cyberdyne systems before their place was destroyed. That still surprises me that it was you guys who did it."

"Anyways, he and his partner had joined a competition sponsored by DARPA. It is a contest where the players must create computers programs that learn how to play chess on their own, no rules programmed into them, and the winner gets a military automation contract."

John thought it sure could be a prelude to Skynet, definitely worth a good looking into.

"Alright. What else?"

"Here is the other competition that is interesting. It is a DARPA grant challenge where the teams build an AI program to have a car drive itself across an unknown landscape. The first car to make it to the finish wins and gets to join in the automation program like the chess competition."

"Any groups that should be looked into?"

"Surprisingly there is a new team for this years competition that came out of nowhere. They are based here in Virgina and are backed by a new startup company. The team is being led by a David Andrews who we have almost nothing on. The only thing we know is that he was born June 9, 1964 in Seattle, Washington. Other than we have nothing."

"Pretty strange. Hey Cameron do you know anything about this guy?"

She turned to look at him and he could tell that she was happy he was talking to her instead of totally ignoring her. She still looked rather miserable in his mind, but knew that her display of feeling was very subtle. The others in the room wouldn't be able to tell much of anything from her but to him she was getting much easier to read.

"I don't have any information on David Andrews nor do I posses any knowledge about the DARPA grant challenge he is participating in."

"Darn, thanks though."

"John, she's a machine. You don't have to thank her. She won't understand any of that."

"Derek you're underestimating her. Also, she is my wife, so be careful how you treat her."

The immense silence that descended upon the room hovered over the place like a thick miasma straight from the lowest depths of hell. John knew it was only the calm before the storm and looked over at his mom. She had covered her face with her hands, no doubt wishing that he hadn't said anything about his and Cameron's relationship. Derek and Aaron both had their mouths hanging open doing a fairly good impression of a fish.

It was Derek who was able to speak first.

"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU MEAN SHE'S YOUR WIFE!"

That man really had a set of lunges on him. John was wondering if he was going to have hearing damage in his left ear from that outburst.

"We both have the same last name, had a wedding (sort of), and she sleeps with me. That sort of thing."

"I can't believe this. Sarah how could you let him do something so stupid? It's a machine. It can never feel anything for him and will just use him. She's a liar and will kill John the first chance she gets."

John whacked him upside the head.

"Derek do you think that I'm really stupid enough to send one back that couldn't be trusted?"

Derek again ended up looking like a fish and strange noises were coming from his mouth as he wrestled with what he wanted to say. John could tell that what he had said had stumped the older man.

"She's still just a machine."

"Derek, drop it. You can complain all you want but it isn't going to change anything. Aaron you all finished up with my mom's paperwork."

"Um, yea. I got her a birth certificate and passport. Her new name is Sarah Baum from Denver, Colorado. With this stuff she will not having any trouble."

"Great. Now we have each others contact information and we can split up the work. I don't want to be around each other much unless necessary to help minimize the chances of being tracked by the various Terminators that are out and about. We will start looking into Andy Goode. Okay with you guys?"

"Yea sure."

As they started walking out with Cameron taking the lead Derek came up to him and grabbed his arm.

"Don't get very attached to that thing. You can't treat them like some pet or it will be the last thing you do. All they know how to do is kill and destroy. Never forget that."

"Derek, you shouldn't be afraid of the dark at your age," said John as he pulled his arm away and continued walking out of the room.

* * *

Cameron was driving them back to their house with John in the passenger seat and Sarah sitting in the back. For the most part their meeting had gone pretty well. In addition to the paperwork for Sarah they had also gotten about 20 diamonds from them to help cover necessary expenses in their fight. However, there was one sore point for Sarah.

"John did you have to swat the hornet's nest?"

"I did not see ..."

"I will explain it later Cameron. Mom, I wanted to get it out in the open right away. If I tried to keep it a secret and hide it from them it would have been much worse. They might have even tried to destroy Cameron."

"They still might."

"True, but now they know my feelings and will have a much harder time because they have to worry about me instead of just her."

"Just be careful and you too tin-miss. John has gotten rather attached to you and I don't want him horribly sad because of a mistake made by you."

"Does that mean that protecting John also includes insuring my survival?"

"Damn straight!" replied John.

"I understand."

* * *

It was later that evening and John was sitting outside the bathroom listening to the running water of the shower. Cameron was currently in there cleaning herself as he had asked her to go first since she was the fastest out of all of them.

It still made him smile that a machine was taking a bath. Usually anything that has electrical components wouldn't get along with water but she didn't have that problem. She would sweat just like anyone else and needed to clean up just the same. The more he considered her the more human she felt to him.

It was a nice feeling and he was very happy to have her around. It had not occurred to him just how lonely he really was until she had been dropped into his life. She would listen to him and not judge him on the stupid things. Sure she would give her opinion about his plans and options, but she didn't mind what clothes he wore or what kind of car he drove. To him she was the perfect match for the crazy life he had to live.

A loud crash followed by her yelling out his name for help had him rushing through the door. He found her on the floor having fallen out of the shower, taking the shower curtain and all its attachments with her. The reason for her fall was quickly evident as that silky white cord had tied her up.

He quickly grabbed a towel from the wall and wrapped it around her torso and helped her sit on the chair on the bathroom. He had just finished when Sarah came in.

"What was all that noise?"

"I miss calculated how slippery the soap would make the floor of the shower which caused me to loose my balance."

Sarah looked around at the mess and John had positioned himself on the floor picking up some of the parts of the shower curtain to hide Cameron's bound ankles. It apparently worked because she didn't say anything about it.

"John how about you let her finish getting dressed and then we can clean it up later."

"Alright."

He followed Sarah out of the room and closed the door leaving her alone for the moment. He knew Daria had to be around somewhere for this to happen and didn't want his mom to find out about her yet. Daria was far too dangerous and unpredictable to have his mom confront.

"John, I know you worry about her quite a bit but unlike us she can take a lot more physical damage than either of us. I want you to remember that because if you start to treat her like a fragile doll you will make the wrong decision at times."

"Believe me mom, what is underneath her skin is something that I think about often. Thanks for reminding me though."

Sarah reached over and ruffled his hair a bit and he just yelled out, "Mom!". She laughed at him and went back into the kitchen to continue cleaning up.

He came back into the bathroom and shut the door and locked it. He looked over at her and could tell she was very upset again. Why this Daria had to do these things he didn't know but it sure bugged the heck out of him as well.

"You alright?"

"Yes, but it caught me off guard and I quickly lost my balance."

"Are there any difference in them before?"

"No. I have tried and I can't escape from them. Have you seen Daria yet?"

"I'm right here you two."

John almost screamed and Cameron's reaction wasn't much better. What the heck was wrong with her? Did she like to scare the crap out of people.

"Why did you do this to Cameron again?"

"John I didn't hurt her and no other people around that could hurt her so I wasn't endangering her. Now I have told you before that since she's a cybernetic I am going to keep her a bit restrained when I'm around."

"Why? It was obvious the last time she fought you that you far outclassed her."

"I have been around far too long to take chances. While it maybe that the chances of her winning a fight are very small I am not going to take the chance."

"Fine. Just next time how about giving her some kind of warning at least."

He watched her carefully examine him. He felt like he was making a deal with the Devil in those old stories. The type that will give you want you want but you will surely pay for it in the end.

"Alright. However, since she knows I will be coming I will make certain she is restrained further. Is that alright with you?"

"Come on, you don't have to do that. Look at her right now. She can't use her arms and legs and you want to somehow make it worse."

"It's your choice."

John looked at Cameron and asked, "What do you want to do?"

"Daria can we perhaps take a different path? How about you signal us to meet you and then you can restrain me however you want."

Cameron's reply surprised him. It was something he should have thought of but he was so mad right now it had escaped him. He was very glad to have her around right now.

"You're a smart one."

Daria pulled out two small wrist bands from her pocket and handed them to John. They were a rather pretty silver color. They weren't really shiny like other silver jewelry but had a dull color to them. The texture of them was of many tiny bumps and small circle at the top formed the latch.

"These will allow me to call you two and the circle at the top is what you speak into. They can pick out your voice so you don't need to have them raised up to your mouth. All you have to do is speak."

"Got it, now how do we hear you?"

"They will transmit my voice right to you. It will sound like I am right next to you. Now if you want to contact me just press the small circle for a second or two and you will hear a small tone. If I want to talk to you I will, otherwise it will click again and the connection will be dropped."

She was looking at him expectantly so he put one on his wrist and went over to Cameron and put hers on. It took him a bit longer because with her hands tied together it made it hard to get around her wrist.

"Wonderful. Now I will make you two a small deal. If you don't give me any trouble I won't restraint her anymore than she is now when I visit. Deal?"

John and Cameron both gave her their agreement and she seemed happy over it.

"Great. Now lets go over the details of the job I have for the two of you."

She was nuts. Sarah wasn't going to be working on the dishes much longer and would want to clean up herself. It would be impossible for her to resist breaking down the door when she heard an unknown voice coming from the bathroom.

"Look, you kind of have really bad timing here. We can't just discuss these details in here and someone else is going to want to use the bathroom really soon."

"I know. You mom should finish with the dishes in about 10 minutes and before you go nuts I will tell you that I haven't done anything to her."

That make him somewhat happier, but just how much did she know?

"Fine then. How long will this take?"

"It will take about 20 or 30 minutes so I will wait for you two in your room."

"Wait! What about Cameron?"

"Just bring her with you. I'm sure you can figure out something," Daria stated and just like before she disappeared.

* * *

That lady was playing with them he was sure. She was getting some kind of sick and twisted joy playing with his feeling for Cameron. Why? He had no idea, but it really pissed him off.

He had spent about four minutes trying to figure out how in the hell they were going to make into their room unseen because it was down the hall and from their door you could see right into the kitchen. No doubt if his mom happened to turn around from her work on the dishes she would see Cameron being carried by him. No doubt she would have several questions none of them he wanted to answer.

Fighting with the T-1000 had been scary but this chilled him right down to his bones. He knew his mom would ask all sorts of questions about what he was doing to Cameron. No doubt she would conclude that he was having her fulfill some fantasy of his and he really didn't want to listen to that lecture. Sure Cameron was cute and for some reason a helpless Cameron was very cute but he didn't like the idea of talking about it one bit.

He had her over his shoulders in a fireman's carry and carefully made his way down the hallway. He peaked around the corner and saw his mom cleaning up the table with a rag and pulled back. He hoped that she didn't see anything and after a few intense seconds realized that she had gone back to the sink when he heard the water turn on.

It was now or never. He dashed for his door as quickly as he could and slipped inside not bothering to look back. He heard the water stop and heard his mom come up to the door and he could tell she was right outside. After a second or two he heard her go down the hallway and hoped she didn't see anything but suspected that he was busted.

He laid Cameron down on his bed and almost collapsed to the floor. Carrying her was a lot harder than he suspected since she weighted in at 235 pounds.

"John are you alright?"

"Yea I'm fine."

"You could have just left me there. I would have been fine?"

"I'm not leaving you alone like this with that devil around. Also, what would have happened with my mom?"

It couldn't have been any worse for him at that moment. Cameron had moved to sit next to him on the floor which caused her towel to start to slip off when his mom opened the door and walked in.

Sarah stared at Cameron's state of undress and the bindings that were wrapped about her and then looked at John. He didn't know if it was possible to pass out from pure embarrassment but it sure felt like he was pushing the envelope.

It looked like she was going to say something but then she decided against it and slowly backed out of the room and closed the door. He knew without a doubt that he was going to get one heck of "talk" tomorrow. Damn that devil.

"John are you alright? Your heart rate and blood pressure have risen considerably."

"I will explain it all later. Lets just deal with our current problem."

Cameron nodded her agreement to him and he helped her back on the bed and covered her with a sheet. It was quite at first but it got louder quickly and he turned around quickly and saw Daria laughing so hard she had a few tear marks on her face.

"I haven't had so much fun in ages. You two are just a riot."

"Knock it off you Devil. You just couldn't resist making this mess could you?"

His choice of words sure got her attention. All the mirth present on her face quickly replaced itself with cold anger.

"Devil? Where did you hear about that nickname?"

"Oh, so other people must also call you Devil Daria. It sure fits."

"Do you want to see what other trouble I can cause you?"

John shook his head and knew he was treading a tin line with her right now. In this case surrender was the best option.

"Ok then. Now here is what I want you two to look into."

The Devil pulled out a map and pointed out an area that they had just been at. It was the apartment of the resistance fighters they had just seen.

"There are two men here that have jumped from the future. They are regular humans most likely involved with the resistance. Now this here."

She was pointing to another location about 40 miles away.

"Is the location of a cybernetic that jumped in yesterday. It is posing as a police officer and is searching for the other two. Now I don't care about these other two but I want you two to catch the cybernetic."

She pulled out a picture and handed it to John.

"This is what he looks like. I want him in two days and that is when I will be back. Got it?"

John nodded.

"Also, I don't like being called a devil so your wife can stay like that till morning," she said as she faded from view.

"She's definitely a Devil. We have got to figure out a way to get out from under her thumb."

"John, what is a nickname?"

"Huh. Um it is a name that you use to refer to someone. It can be used to denote endearment or like in Daria's case, resentment."

"Do you have a nickname for me and which kind is it?"

He hadn't thought about it before but figured he would give her one to make her feel happy.

"How about Cammy. Cam seems too short and Cammy is rather nice. Don't worry I would only give you one of endearment."

She smiled up at him and he felt himself feeling rather warm. He hadn't had much time to focus on her current situation but right now she was a naked and very beautiful Cameron laying on his bed. He wasn't sure what he was going to do when a knock on his door interrupted his thoughts.

"John can you come out and talk with me for a little bit?"

Oh boy.

* * *

**Notes:** The TV series is often very serious and sometimes it is hard to pick up on the subtle humor that is present in its sparse appearances. I figured it would be rather fun to really poke at John and Cameron with the humor stick in this chapter to offer a lighter side to a few things.

Also, I really hated the going bad thing in the TV series as it didn't make much sense to me. I plan to adjust and alter how it works to make it usable in my story. I also plan on explaining Derek's hatred better.

ArrowMk84: TIEA is my own creation. I plan on explaining them better but it will come in short pieces because Daria isn't own to offer much in the way of explanations.

So keep those reviews coming. Let me know what you think. What you like/dislike and any ideas you might have about the story.


	9. A nice morning

* * *

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Terminator characters.**

* * *

Cameron watched as John hung his head and walked out to talk with Sarah. Based on his body language it wasn't something he was looking forward too. She didn't understand entirely what the problem was because according to her files it was common for married couples to be together naked and for some to engage in actions that resulted in one party being in her current state of restraint. She would ask him about it when he got back.

She repositioned herself so that she was sitting up and considered their options. Breaking free from Daria would have to be done soon as the technology that she possessed was far ahead of anything in this time period and even beyond what Skynet had available in the future which made her a very big threat. In addition, Daria's ability to render her helpless was very frustrating and constituted a large threat to her primary mission.

She considered what that meant for a few moments. Her primary mission to was to protect John Connor but she seemed to have moved beyond that simple statement. It seemed as if things were getting clearer to her as she stayed around him. Almost as if she was slowly coming out of standby mode and each day brought her closer to feeling completely awake. As she examined memories from her earlier days she was intrigued by the way her thought processes changed with the passage of time. Something was fundamentally changing inside of her and it scared her a bit.

She looked up as John came back into the room. His face was flushed and he seemed a bit jittery. She concluded that his talk with his mother had caused him a great discomfort.

"John are you alright?"

"Yea. I just had the most horrible conversation with my mom. There are things parents should not talk with their children about."

"What things?"

He paused and she realized that her question had caused him quite a bit of discomfort.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to upset you further."

"No it's alright as you don't really understand this sort of thing. Anyways, let me try to explain, parents usually have a talk with their kids about sex and usually it makes their children very uncomfortable."

"Is that what she was talking to you about?"

"Mostly. She had a few other things on her mind and they really bugged me as well."

"What were those?"

"Um, well it was related to how you are currently tied up."

"How come that embarrassed you? It isn't your fault I'm currently stuck like this."

He got even redder with her last question which really made her curious about what was going on. He was trying hard not look at her and was pacing around the room. Very strange.

"Um well, I told her that I liked to tie you up and that you didn't mind it. I wanted to keep her out of this to prevent her from getting involved with Daria, but she gave me quite a lecture about it."

"That plan makes sense. However, you are avoiding looking directly at me. Do you actually like seeing me this way and does it bother you?"

She found it funny how her words seemed to make him jump as she spoke each one. It was very strange to be helpless and yet somehow in control over John at the same time. A very unique situation that she was filing away every detail for later analysis.

"Well somewhat. Anyways can we let this drop. I want to focus on our more immediate problems."

"Sure."

He sat on the bed next to her and became very serious. She could see him transform from the embarrassed and insecure teenager to the calculating and formidable commander that he was destined to become. It was at these moments that she could recognize the man she knew from the future.

"Daria was good for one thing and that was giving us information on this new Terminator. What type do think it is?"

She ran a quick analysis and based on the picture concluded that it was a T-888.

"T-888."

"Ok. Since you aren't as strong a T-888 we need to figure out a way for you to fight better. I noticed that Terminators always seem to fight head on. Why is that?"

She had never considered that before. Their range of tactics for direct confrontation was rather simple and mainly consisted of shooting the target or attacking them directly. Usually pitting brute force against brute force with the strongest prevailing.

"I don't know. It hasn't ever come up before."

"Well we humans have dealt with problems like this before. I think we should get you trained in some of the martial arts that can use an opponent's strength against them. The next thing we need to do is create some more effective weapons. The gun that Derek and Arron used on you has me interested, can you tell me what happened?"

"They used a Tazor, a weapon that emits electrical shocks to disable an opponent. Certain electrical shocks can temporarily disable a Terminator. Usually the time until the system reboot is complete is 120 seconds from when the shock occurs."

"What happens if the shocking is maintained?"

"Often it is possible for our systems to adjust and block off the affected area. While it may limit our functionality it will not completely stop us."

"Very useful. Tomorrow we will purchase a few of those and get a hold of some body armor. Also, I need to purchase a new computer and gain Internet access as most information can now be found on the Internet. Quite a big change from eight years ago."

She added the items to a new file to make sure they didn't miss anything. She really liked seeing him like this as it made her feel safe and secure. She knew that no matter who the enemy was he would always find some method to overcome them. She scooted closer to him and relaxed against him placing her head on his shoulder. He seemed to unconsciously and automatically reach up and place his arm around her as he repositioned himself with his back against the wall to help support her. It felt really nice to be closer to him.

"What are we going to do about Daria?"

"I'm not sure yet. Currently we haven't seen any of her weaknesses and she can track us anywhere and to anytime. However, we need to start digging into her abilities. She doesn't trust you at all and keeps you on a tight leash but doesn't consider me much of a threat. The only problem is that with her holding you hostage she has me tied up just as much as you because there isn't anyway I am going to let her hurt you."

"I'm sorry."

"You don't have to be sorry about anything. I care for you deeply and it would hurt me far too much if I lost you."

"John, I know my understanding of people is rather limited but I know you well. Isn't what you just said a confession of love for me?"

She felt him tense up against her and for a few moments he sat there just breathing slowly. She was starting to worry when he relaxed and looked down at her face staring directly into her eyes while playing with her hair.

"It was. Thank you for pointing it out. So, let me say that again. I love you far too much to handle loosing you."

She smiled at him and felt content. While she couldn't understand his feelings completely as she currently was, she surmised that with the changes happening in her system it was only a matter of time before she could fully feel the same thing for him.

They sat in silence for a while just enjoying being with each other and the silence in the room was the silence of two people happy to be in each others presence. She just listened to John's heart beating and his breathing and found them comforting. She didn't know why it was comforting but it was all the same.

"Let's worry about Daria later. The most crucial thing we need to defeat her is information. We only know a few things about her and none of them will currently help us."

"What's next then?"

"I need to call Derek and Aaron and have them grab their stuff and move out. Then we can call the police and leave an anonymous tip about two guys a cop was looking for. Hopefully the Terminator is monitoring the police network and would pick up on the tip we left. However, we will direct him to a trap we will have setup. So what do we need to disable a T-888 for a long time?"

She considered the problem carefully as they needed to disable the unit but not damage it beyond its ability to communicate with them. An idea occurred to her which would solve the problem rather well.

"We can remove its CPU. Once we have the CPU it can be connected to some computer hardware we put together to examine the information contained on it."

"Good idea. How do you remove the CPU?"

"There is a cover on the head that can be accessed by removing the skin around it. Once the cover is exposed it can be removed exposing the CPU. Once the CPU is exposed a pair of pliers can be used to remove it from its socket."

"How long do you think it would take you to do that?"

"I could do it in about 45 seconds."

"Prefect. I have got it all figured out then."

* * *

Sarah was sitting on the couch slowing sipping some whiskey she had. She didn't like to drink and only did it when her nerves really needed some additional help. She had not expected to need it after talking with John about his "taste" in how he played with Cameron but she did. She could still feel the heat on her face as she tried to express her concerns.

When she had been younger and hadn't know about Terminators, or anything serious for that matter, and would go out and party with her friends it wasn't that uncommon to hear about some couple that liked to play tie up games with each other. However, she never expected to find her son doing it. As silly as it was she was worried about how John treated Cameron. Sure she was a hardened killing machine but somehow she had become something more to her just like the T-800 had.

She had agreed to leave John alone, much to his relief, but made him promise to be careful with her. The absolute last thing they needed was some some Terminator with a broken heart intent on getting her revenge.

The whole thing had given her quite a bit to think about. Did she mind what John and Cameron did with each other? Definitely. How far was she going to dig into their lives? She didn't know. Was Cameron a good match for her son? This one made her pause and she tried to be as objective as possible in its consideration. After a few more sips and thoughts about it she knew that Cameron was the best match for him. She really needed to have a chat with Cameron as well sometime soon.

* * *

RING...RING...RING

"Derek get the damn phone!"

Derek climbed out of bed catching a look at the clock, 5:19am, on his way over to the phone.

"Yea?", he said with a yawn.

"9at48. It's John."

"1d2m. Ok, so what's up and why are you calling me this early in the morning."

"You need to grab your stuff and get out of there. A T-888 came in just two days ago is hot on your trail."

That got Derek's full attention. He was half asleep when he answered, a very nice thing about being back in 2007, but thoughts of metal always drained any thoughts of sleep or relaxation from him. Those things were the object of his most intense hatred and fear.

"How do you know that?"

"Don't question me about the sources of my intel. Just get your butt out of there and head to some random location. Call me later when you get there and this is an order Lieutenant. Got it?"

No question about it, that was John Connor on the phone. Derek had expected him to be easier to deal with in the past when he was still a kid but that phone call reminded him exactly of Command Connor. Nope, it didn't matter when you meet John Connor he was still going to bark orders and you would still be damned if you didn't follow them. Everyone who tried to ignore John would end up dead or worse. Some of those things Skynet tried on the people it captured were beyond what the lowest depths of hell could conjure up. It made him shutter just thinking about it.

"Yea I got it. What are you going to do?"

"I'm going fishing!"

The line went dead as Derek heard John hang up the phone. Connor was still a bastard but he still liked him.

"Aaron were moving out. Grab the bags of supplies and I will get the guns."

* * *

Cameron was sitting on a chair out by the dinning room table wrapped up in a blanket watching the sun come up. John had just finished his phone call to Derek and came back over to the table with the milk. He was preparing his breakfast for their day, but since he hadn't sleep she didn't know what meal it should really be called.

"John you should have gotten some sleep last night. The human body needs about eight hours of sleep to function correctly."

"I know. However would you have rather I slept than talked with you?"

"I did enjoy the conversation but your sleep is more important and your lack of sleep increases the danger you will be in if we run into any threats while getting supplies today."

He stopped eating for a minute and looked closely at her which caused a strange sensation to flash across her.

"I had another reason why I couldn't sleep."

She sighed, a habit she had picked up from Sarah which seemed to fit perfectly with her thoughts currently.

"John I told you it won't bother me to sleep with you like this."

"It's not you I'm worried about. I know that you won't mind it but for me to have a naked and beautiful girl, tied up no less, in bed is still very new to me. Besides, it was fun talking with you all night."

She did enjoy it as well. They had talked about everything they could think of and John had spent a little over two hours answering her questions about human behavior and several of the expressions that she didn't understand but had heard recently. However, being unable to really move around or get comfortable had made the night very difficult and she was very happy John had stayed with her. Helplessness in this fashion wasn't something she ever expected to experience and if John hadn't been around to watch over her she might have gone nuts.

While she was still stuck wearing her bindings currently the sun continued its slow rise over the horizon giving her a promise of freedom. She wouldn't mind if John wanted to tie her up but having Daria do it her was something else. There was noway out of her restraints and it wouldn't have mattered if she begged or pleaded for freedom as they would never let her go free until Daria allowed it. She wondered if Daria would even have cared if a Terminator had come by and attacked John while she was tied up. She doubted if the woman (or devil as John would say) would even consider it much of a problem and might even leave her tied up for the rest of her existence if she complained about it too much.

She knew with certainty that John would find someway to get them out from under Daria's control. No matter how long it took he would never give up and would analyze Daria's weaknesses until she fell within his grasp. To her it was as certain as the rising of the sun over every new day as that was how strong her faith in John was. A very foreign and strange concept to a Terminator but it had developed all the same.

John had finished his breakfast and was putting the bowl away when she gasped and startled him.

"What happened?", he said rushing over to her.

She held out her hands to him and he smiled at her. She was finally free and they wrapped each other in a warm hug.

"Ok, you go get dressed and we can get started doing some shopping."

* * *

They had just finished picking out a laptop computer for John. He was really happy to play with the new computers of 2007 as they were much faster than the ones he was accustomed to using. In fact, in 1999 there was a large amount of talk about how the microprocessor industry was reaching its apex of miniaturization and that it would be impossible for them to go any smaller. He knew that it wasn't true because of the technology that the Terminators represented but was glad to see that Moore's law hadn't let them down yet.

"Cameron what is next on the list?"

"You had wanted to get some new clothes for you and me."

"Great. I'm tried of wearing these clothes we rounded up from the thrift store. How much money is left from pawning that diamond?"

"We have 5931 dollars and 43 cents left."

He had used Cameron to sell one of the diamonds at the first pawn shop they saw. He had helped her work out a story and told her how to act. She had done a good job but came off as somewhat autistic. Well it didn't matter much because her looks would compensate for small problems like that when dealing with most men.

"John can we also purchase some makeup for me?"

"I don't see why not but why do you need it?"

"It's normal for women to wear makeup and those magazines you got me said that it will make me look more beautiful."

"I doubt that. You are already very beautiful."

It just slipped out of John's mouth as his attention had been focused on some random blinking object going by in the mall. He felt her grab his hand and squeeze it which caused him to turn and look back at her.

It seemed as if she was beaming with pride, for lack of better words, and then he remembered what he had said without thinking. He was glad that he had made her happy but he needed to pay closer attention to her or he might say something stupid and end up twisted up like a pretzel. His mom's words weren't very far away from his mind and they reminded him that she was learning all the time and that he had to be her guide to the discovery of who and what she could become. He needed to be very careful with her to allow her to grow enough sensibilities and securities so that when the pain did come it wouldn't destroy her.

She dragged him over the to the nearest department store, a JCPenny, to examine what cosmetics they had for sale. He really wished that his mom was here to help but Sarah had told them to have fun and bring her back something as well. Usually his mom was really tight with the money but perhaps she wanted him to have a normal day out shopping with his girl. Something that normal people do all the time. Except it wasn't really that normal as how many go shopping with a Terminator, but it was still fun.

He came back to reality and listed to the sales lady attempting to get Cameron interested in everything she had to offer. He took a look at her and could tell that she was probably analyzing all the different shades and colors of the various products and comparing them to the pictures in the magazines he had gotten her, no doubt trying to find the closest match to woman he had indicated he thought were pretty.

"Cameron you don't have to do that?"

"Do what?"

"Analyze everything. You can just pick something that would be nice."

She turned to the sales woman, a lady in her early thirties named Julie.

"What would be nice?"

"Well these eye shadows here would go very well with your complexion. Any one of them would be nice."

"Would they make me look pretty."

"Sure."

"John, she says they would make me look pretty, but which one is nice."

Well, Ms. Autism had made another appearance today. He understood why she had trouble but it was still silly to watch. However, being a part of it made him somewhat embarrassed. Well, nothing ventured nothing gained, so he figured he should help her out until she developed her own sense of style. He knew his mom would be in hysterics over what was going to happen next as well as those two resistance fighters they had just meet if they were present too.

"Um Julie she has trouble with people sometimes. So how about I just pick some stuff out for her."

"Sure, no problem. Is she your sister?"

"No. Actually were married."

Julie paused a second at his response but didn't seem to really care.

"I think she looks really good with a very natural look so how about a light blush and a neutral foundation. Now lets see, get me a simple lip gloss, fine eye liner, and slightly rose/pink eye shadow."

"Any particular brands or special properties you want?'

"Something that won't come off easily and is a really good product."

"Sure. Do you want anything special like glitters and such?"

"How about some glitter with the eye shadow?"

She put all the products in a bag and rang them up. It cost a bit more than he expected but they were about a month's supply of the stuff. As he took the bag Julie looked at Cameron and said, "Don't let this one go. He is a good catch."

Cameron had a confused look on her face and said, "I didn't catch him and I go everywhere with him. I don't understand your statement."

Julie laughed a bit and John just grabbed Cameron's hand and led her away down into the store to look for some clothes.

"John do you know a lot about cosmetics?"

"I know a bit. When I was younger this guy my mom knew taught me how to use makeup. He was teaching me about the arts and theater but my mom had wanted me to know how to make disguises."

"Thank you for explaining."

Once they got to the woman's clothing section she began to look around at everything and he knew just what she was thinking about and was no doubt do the exact same thing as with the cosmetics.

"Cameron you're not really sure what to get are you?"

"No. I was trying to analyze..."

"I know what you were doing. How about we do two things here. I will do some shopping for clothes that would look nice on you and you can find some clothes for the both of us and my mom that would be functional for combat operations. Is that fine with you?"

She was happy he could tell at being able to help out and get some clothes picked out by him for her. In some ways she was like a lost child seeking the approval of those around her. It made him somewhat sad and reminded him just what burden lay in his hands with respect to teaching her.

"That is fine."

As she started to walk over to another clothing aisle he stopped her.

"What sizes of clothing fit you?"

After a while they were at the checkout stand with quite a pile of clothes. The clerk was rather surprised by the large amount of clothes.

"Sure are getting a lot of stuff today."

"Yea. We had a fire in our last house so we have to replace quite a bit of stuff."

"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that. Is everyone alright?"

"Yep."

It was now well past noon and they were making their way out of the shopping mall when Cameron turned to him with a confused look on her face.

"John I have noticed many different females wearing high heeled shoes and they were often an accessory featured in those magazines. I do not understand why they are worn when they limit one's ability to walk and run. Could you explain it?"

Well that wasn't a question he was expecting, but since she had never been around in times like this it would be very confusing to her.

"Well they are not worn for their practicality. Woman were them to look nicer to members of the opposite sex."

She seemed to consider this for a few seconds with that usual small tilt of her head that he had learned to spot indicating that she was trying to fit the pieces of the puzzle together.

"I don't see how they would make one look nicer to the opposite sex."

"Well, it kind of goes like this. They make a lady take smaller more delicate steps which in turns gives the illusion of grace if done well. Also they lengthen the appearance of the legs. All of this combines to enhance a woman's appearance to the men around her."

"You are very knowledgeable about these sorts of things. Why is that?"

John felt his face flush a bit but answered her question anyway.

"Any man who is interested in women knows the kinds of things that made some women more attractive than others."

She consider this and John could tell from the expression on her face exactly what her next response would be and was already looking for a shoe store when she next spoke.

"Can I have some high heels as well?"

* * *

Sarah was beginning to worry when John and Cameron came in with a large number of bags.

"Hi mom. Can you help us unload? Cameron liked the shopping experience."

She chucked a bit at that and responded to John.

"It just means that even if she was built by Skynet she is still a girl."

John just rolled his eyes at her and headed back outside with her following along.

"Did you enjoy yourself Cameron?"

"The experience was novel and strange to me but I didn't fit it disagreeable."

"How did she do will all of the different people?"

"Pretty good. She came off a bit autistic at times but I was able to handle everything for her."

"Did you get everything you needed?"

"We only got the laptop and clothing supplies. We still need to go back out later for the Tazor and some other equipment."

"You're kidding me. Cameron you really liked the shopping didn't you?"

"John helped me by explaining several things to me that I didn't understand."

Sarah arched an eyebrow and looked at him.

"So, this is really your doing?"

"Not really. Lets just get lunch and we can go over everything later, alright."

"Sure."

* * *

**Notes:** A few things I wanted to address for those of you with questions (Starman800). I took the stance the Cameron was an infiltrator and her series was designed with a very singular action, that of killing a person after getting close to them. They were never meant to be front line soldiers but to fit in better with the people around them. In that vein Skynet made many design trade offs to allow for the smaller frame and two of those were reduced strength and armor. So, Cameron is unable to go toe to toe with T-888 but is still far stronger than a normal person. She can still handle getting shot with most guns and in a pinch can fight the other terminators but needs John's backup to help destroy one. The other thing is that Skynet had installed basic emotional processing in them but it caused problems quickly and thus their missions had to be quick and short, usually less than six months. Once Commander Connor got her he was able to see her potential and changed the entire method of her CPU regarding emotions. In this sense she is slowing waking up and finding far more in the world. Also, Commander Connor took a risk and switched her CPU to read/write, like in T2, which would allow her to develop free will and become self-aware. How will it turn out, well you will just have to keep reading.

I took this approach to bring them closer together and have them form an inseparable team. I don't like in the show how far apart they are becoming and wanted her to have a large disadvantage to make John realize that she needs him just as much as he needs her. It is somewhat similar to how things worked in T2 which you can really see in the last part how the T-800 got his butt kicked when directly facing the T-1000 alone.

Also Daria is someone who can be thought of as the anti-thesis to humanity. Someone who has far too much power and control over things and doesn't care how or what she does to get her job done. All that matters is getting the job done and who it affects doesn't matter sense they are lesser beings to her. Also, as you can see from how she acts she likes to be petty and cause problem for people who she has "recruited" into her service. Don't worry as John will always fight her, but I'm not telling as what will happen with her in the end.

In case some you are also wondering why did I bother to put in such a leash on John and Cameron it was mainly to add additional pressure that will be used as the story moves on. Also, it created a nice avenue to use my weird and strange sense of humor.

The next chapter will be action packed but I want to give John and Cameron a somewhat normal time out together.

**Updated: **Many odd errors and typos have been corrected.


	10. Cameron's new pet

* * *

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Terminator characters**

* * *

**:Event timer triggered – exiting standby mode  
****#Show diagnostic report  
****:Diagnostics complete – no problems present  
****:Returning power to all systems...Please wait  
****:All systems ready**

Cameron's vision returned and she found John sleeping right next to her with his right arm still wrapped around her. She was glad to see that her modifications to her standby programming were working perfectly. She had adjusted them so that changes to John's position that indicated that he was leaving her presence would 'wake her'. Sleeping a regular schedule presented many risks in her opinion because it took about 15 seconds for her systems to be ready after exiting standby mode. Although the 'pleasure', the only definition that fit what she perceived she was feeling, compensated for the risks that were involved.

Her internal clock reported that it was exactly 6:00:23.344am and time to get John up. He looked very peaceful and had told her before that her presence with him at night gave him great comfort and helped him sleep far better than he ever had in the past. It made her feel good and she found herself wanting to just stay with him for a while longer. To just ignore the responsibilities that lay ahead of both of them and instead just focus on being with him.

It was a very temping idea and after seven seconds of contemplation she decided to let him sleep while she got ready for the day. As she slowly started to untangle herself from his embrace she felt him pull her closer and open his eyes to fully look at her.

"Where are you trying to going without waking me?"

"I figured that I would let you sleep while I got ready."

He smiled at her and leaned forward and kissed her on her lips, the first one he had given her. It wasn't anything like what she had seen on the TV shows or the few movies they had watched while she had been with him, but to her it held far more meaning than anything those shows could ever hope to portray.

"Thanks for thinking of me, but I need to get moving as well."

With that they both exited the bed and John let out a rather large yawn. He was still very tired from all of the late nights of gathering information and staying up all of last night talking with her had created a large sleep debt for him. She had urged him to go to bed early last night but he refused stating that the information he was getting was far more important.

She was able to get him to come to bed at about 11:16pm by threatening to sit on him all night if he didn't stop what he was doing. Sarah had giggled over the whole affair because it had escalated to her dragging him back to the bedroom by his ankles. Sarah had made some remark about the roles of even cavemen being reversed in this crazy house. She didn't understand it but would look into at a later date.

She stopped thinking about it and looked back over at John as he stretched himself. She watched how all his muscles as they were stretched showed remarkable tone. She knew that he only exercised on the weekends but had done a very good job of it.

"What is the plan for today?"

"Well we got everything yesterday except for the body armor. I had just about figured that all out when you knocked me out of the chair and dragged me back here."

"Sleep is important."

"There are other more effective ways to get a man to come to bed."

"What ways?"

"You will figure it."

She didn't like his answer and put her hands on her hips and stared at him tapping her foot. She wasn't thinking about what she was doing but instead trying to show her annoyance at him for not providing her with a direct answer, something he almost always did.

His chuckle brought her out of her thoughts and she asked, "What is humorous about this situation?"

"It is just how much you are acting like a regular human wife right now. I'm sorry but it is just very funny to me."

"Alright. I'm going to clean up this morning since I was occupied with not letting you sneak away last night."

"I will go ahead and get breakfast and cleanup after you are done. Do you want me to make anything for you?"

"I would like two Eggos with peanut butter. Thanks for asking."

She watched John leave and began to figure out what she would wear today. She wanted to wear some of the clothes and shoes he had picked out for her yesterday. Since he had indicated that they would look nice on her she wanted to see what his reaction would be.

* * *

John walked out to the kitchen and saw his mom already up drinking some coffee and when she noticed him she looked up at him with a warm smile.

"So how did you sleep? Anything else happen after she dragged you off down to your room?"

John rolled his eyes and knew that his mom was enjoying the whole situation immensely. He was really worried about how she would take to him latching onto a Terminator in this way and at first he was sure it was going to be an endless fight over the whole thing. However, his mom had surprised him by letting go and then approving of it.

"I slept and that is all. Actually, it really didn't take very long once I got in bed because I was so tired and I didn't even realize it."

"I'm glad she dragged you off then. In fact, I was thinking about doing something similar. I know you want to do everything but it is impossible and you have to take care of yourself as well."

"I know but it's really hard to let go sometimes. Anyways, there is something else I have been wanting to ask you. Why did you suddenly accept the relationship between her and I."

"It was when we were traveling down to Gallup after just using the time displacement device. Her and I talked for a while as you slept and her answers told me that she was different in many ways."

John pulled out two Eggos and put them into the toaster and got down a bowl, grabbed the milk, and decided on corn flakes and carried it all over to the table.

"It sticks out very quickly doesn't it. She is very different from the others and is changing."

"Apparently, your future self knew that was it very important for you to have a companion who could always be with you and you choose her for that job. I was upset with it at first but it dawned on me that emotions and compassion for others are what truly separate us from the machines. If she can learn those things then she won't be like them either."

"Thanks, mom."

"Where's Cameron?"

"She taking a shower. Any word from Derek or Aaron yet?"

"Nope. I bet we will hear from them today. So what do you have planned today?"

"We are going to get that body armor this evening and then tomorrow take care of that T-888."

"How did you figure that out anyways?"

"Cameron spotted him while watching the TV," he lied.

John saw Sarah grimace a bit when he mentioned Cameron watching TV and he knew exactly what she was feeling. They had gotten her a TV with picture-in-picture and she would flip between channels on both pictures constantly searching for any possible threats and watching for other related news. The channel surfing wasn't that bad but she liked to have both audio channels mixed together and while it sounded terrible to them she could apparently separate the two channels and keep track of it all. Any normal person would go insane if forced to be around while she watched TV and John knew that if he had to get information out of someone it would be great method to use on them.

"Well lets not talk about that. Have you two figured anything else out?"

"She doesn't know much. Apparently, Skynet keeps everything on a need to know basis and her mission didn't require much knowledge about what Skynet was doing in 2007. Everything she has mainly comes from the Tech-Com data that has been collected so we are operating a bit blind."

"Not a good position to be in."

"Definitely, but if I was Skynet I would be gathering and securing resources in preparation for the war. Just because it is a computer doesn't mean it won't have to do the same thing. So, Cameron and I are going to start going through the information she has about the various units to see if we can identify some very important resources in their construction."

"You really are ready for this. I admit I am still very worried about you but I'm sure that together we can find a way."

He just smiled at her and got up to take care of the Eggos that had just popped up in the toaster. Cameron didn't eat much but just the fact that she did made her seem so much more like a regular person he often found himself forgetting about the metal that was underneath her skin when he watched her.

"Are you a bit more hungry today?"

"No, I'm just making these for Cameron."

"How sweet. It is good to see that you are trying so hard to take care of your loving wife."

John just sighed at her. His mom's favorite thing to do was tease him and she loved to take advantage of any opening that he presented.

"Thanks mom, you do know I try so very hard not to loose her," he said with as much sarcasm as he could while standing in the kitchen in just his undergarments.

She laughed a bit and then said to him, "I looked in on you two while you both were sleeping. Did you know that she breathes even while she is sleeping."

That sure surprised him. He knew that she had a lot more organic components than the others and that was one of the reasons why she needed to eat food. He would have to ask her about that later.

"I had no idea and never even thought about something like that."

"Yea, it surprised me as well."

John set Cameron's food on a plate and began eating his breakfast mentally planning the events for the day.

* * *

"We barely have looked at the crime scene when you feds just appear out of the woodwork."

Agent Ellison never really liked other officials who always had to make some odd remark instead of just helping and allowing him to do his job effectively.

"I appear whenever something matches one of my cases."

"What match? We haven't even got anything processed yet."

He let out a sigh and hoped that this detective wouldn't be needed for very long.

"One of the field kits identified some of the blood at the scene which happened to match blood in one of my cases. Now if you could just take me to one of lab guys so that I can talk to them about it that would be great."

"Sure. He is right through that door. He is the tall thin guy with the black rimmed glasses and his name is Bob."

"Thanks."

Agent Ellison quickly made his way to the indicated door and looked in and noticed only one guy present currently going over all the surgical tools available. He cleared his throat and asked, "Are you Bob?"

The man looked up and replied, "Yep that's me. How can I help you?"

"I'm Special Agent James Ellison and some of the blood you checked with the field analyzer matched one of my cases. I was hoping you could fill me in."

"Sure can. I found some blood still in the drain trap and that is what I had analyzed. It is some strange sort of synthetic blood as it doesn't contain any red blood cells. I have never seen anything like it."

"Anything else match up with it."

"Nope. Everything was really well cleaned and I currently think that this blood came off as the tools here were cleaned. It most likely came from whatever the victim had been working on."

"You don't think it was a person?"

"Not really, but I'm not sure. See the computer was last used to print out a template for a reconstruction to match a man named George Laszlo, or at least that is what the file says."

"Reconstruction, not just some simple plastic surgery?"

"Yea a reconstruction. In fact it was the entire face and hair. Now here is where it gets really strange. No anesthetic was used even though a full reconstruction would have taken all night and I don't think a person could in anyway handle that much time under the knife without it."

Definitely strange. The victim had been found in the morning when his staff had started to open up for the day with his neck broken. He had no appointments for that night and would often head home after finishing up all the paperwork so what could have caused him him to stay all night working.

"Has anyone contacted this George Laszlo yet?"

"Not that I am aware of but you should ask the lead detective out there, a guy named George, about that."

"Thanks for you time Bob."

"Sure no problem."

Agent Ellison headed back out to again chat with George, as much as he didn't want too, about how the FBI was going to be involved in his life for a while longer.

* * *

John had just finished off his second bowl of corn flakes when Cameron came down the hallway. John was currently facing away from her so she decided to sneak up on him. As with all Terminators in her series, she moved carefully without making a sound that would give away her presence. As she got close Sarah looked up at her and she put a finger up by her lips asking her not to give her away. The small nod she got from Sarah was all she needed and as she got just behind John's chair.

She grabbed him from behind yelling out, "The Terminator's have got you!"

She had expected John to scream or jump but his response was totally unexpected to her. He quickly grabbed one of her arms around his waist at two places, at the wrist and by the bicep, and twisted quickly with his hips using the leverage on her arm to toss her over him and hard against the floor.

The look on his was one of immense surprise and a bit of fright and she could tell that he suddenly realized just who it was it had tossed onto the floor with all of his strength.

"Oh my God, Cameron are you alright? I didn't mean to hurt you. I just reacted. I'm so sorry..."

He was slightly panicked she could tell but had one real question.

"John, how did you do that?"

"Cameron you should be careful when trying to scare John. While he isn't the best fighter he knows how to react well enough and doesn't freeze up when scared. Now John why don't you help your wife up off the floor and pick up the chair you tossed with her."

John helped her stand up and then looked right at her and said, "Please don't ever try to scare me again. I know you may have thought it might be fun like in those TV shows but if I had hurt you in someway it would have really hurt me as well."

She looked right into his eyes and realized that he looked like he was about to cry so she reached out and embraced him a hug.

"I won't do that again. I promise."

"Thank you."

She let go of him and spotted the food he had left out for her and then picked up the chair. She sat down at the table and began to eat her breakfast when Sarah taped her on the shoulder.

"So you were a bit surprised at how John was able to toss you?"

"Yes. I didn't know it was possible for a human to so easily break my grip and then toss me to the floor. I did record everything as it happened so I can analyze it later."

"John why don't you explain."

"Remember when we were talking about how Terminators fight?"

She indicated she did and continued to eat.

"Well this is one of those tactics I was telling you about. Basically there are two main types of martial arts, hard and soft. Hard is the practice of meeting force with force like how you would currently fight another Terminator. Soft is what I just did in that I used your mass and my leverage to my advantage."

"Is that the only way?"

"No, there are many different methods. I don't know all of them and I was never very good at it but I think with a few books you would do much better against the other units out there."

"Thank you. John do I look nice today?"

She watched as he looked at her in surprise and then examined what she was wearing. She had chosen to wear a white knit top with a V neck combined with a pleated light yellow skirt that went down to a little bit above her knees. As for the shoes, she had gone with a pair of white canvas sneakers and had spent a large amount of processing time deciding on what might fit well together.

"You do. Is it all your own idea?"

"Yes. It took a lot of effort but I hope it isn't bad for my first try."

"Not at all. What do you think mom?"

"She looks fine. She just needs to brush her hair again after your little wresting match and put on a little makeup and she will look like just about any other girl you would see on the street."

"Thank you for the information."

* * *

For the better part of the morning John and Cameron spent it going over various details related to the construction of the units at Skynet's disposal. As Cameron would rattle off the various parts needed it became apparent that one thing kept coming up all the time for the creation of the frame. A material known as Coltan, which contains the elements niobium and tantalum.

"Why is Coltan needed?"

"It is used to make our frames far more durable and heat resistant."

"Is it easy to find in the future?"

"No. Most of the stockpiles of it were destroyed when the bombs fell."

"Alright, lets look around and see if we can find large stockpiles of Coltan."

They were about to get started again when the phone rang and John reached over and answered it.

"2d4m. It's Derek."

"0at59. Did you guys get a new place?"

"Yea. It is quite a bit further away and is located at.."

"Derek don't tell me that stuff on an open line. We can meet up at the location I told you about and exchange that information there. I don't care how careful we are some information shouldn't be spread over any telephone. Alright?"

"Sure. You know you haven't really changed that much. I mean you're younger but you are still the bastard I know."

"Thanks, I guess. Tonight I am going out to finish getting some supplies so we can get together tomorrow and go over the plan on dealing with T-888. How about meeting up at 18:00? Sound fine?"

"Yea, that's fine. Just don't bring the metal alright?"

"No deal. We stick together like glue, just get used to it and quit whining about it."

"Heh, yep just as big a bastard as well. See ya tomorrow."

John hung up the phone and then told Cameron they were meeting him at 9:00am tomorrow.

"I thought you said it was 18:00?"

"Yea but that is also a code. In this case we added the numbers together and get 9:00am."

"Thank you for explaining."

* * *

Sarah watched from the window as John and Cameron went over the various basics of the soft style martial arts in the back yard. He had told her he planned on picking up some books the next day but had found some information on the Internet and still remembered quite a bit.

He was currently outlining the basics of Aikido, the only one he had spent quite a bit of time working on, with Cameron. Her face held almost no expression but by the way her eyes followed all of John's movements told Sarah of the intensity behind her 'programming'. She wasn't sure that 'programming' in the strickest logical sense would always control her as everyday it appeared that she kept becoming more than the she was the day before.

The last T-800 had explained how Skynet controlled the Terminators and how it prevented them from learning by switching their chips to read-only, but John in the future had change Cameron to read-write before sending her off.

She looked back up just in time to see Cameron duplicate the move John had done on her this morning. He appeared to be rather winded from it and Cameron had keeled down next to him check over him. She smiled when she saw John twist his legs around Cameron's torso and quickly grab one of her arms pinning her. John had quickly let her go and from Cameron's expression she knew he was going over the details.

It was still so strange to think that her son's best friend and lover, it was only time, was a machine that had been built for a single purpose of killing people but once John from the future had gotten a hold of her he changed her purpose and with that action provided them hope. Perhaps there was another path the machines could take as watching Cameron made her think about it.

* * *

It was now 9:11pm and John and Cameron were outside a military warehouse. John had figured out what type of body armor he wanted but it wasn't available for purchase to civilians. So, he had tracked down a location that had a supply. It was a new type of ceramic composite armor called Dragonskin.

Cameron and him had spent several hours surveying the location of the warehouse and her sensors had allowed them to pinpoint the locations of all the cameras and alarm points. They had all the equipment and were dressed for the job.

The only really annoying thing bothering John right now was the immense rain storm currently in progress. Why it had to rain tonight he didn't know but he figured that God was punishing him again. He looked over at Cameron and said, "Well at least the rain will make it harder on them as well."

He took off to a side gate that didn't have an alarm or camera positioned on it and signaled for her to break the combination lock on it. She did it quickly and they entered closing the gate afterwords trying to make it look at if it hadn't been touched.

They quickly headed over to the nearby service building that housed most of the power infrastructure and John pulled out his lock picks. It didn't take him very long with the simple lock and they quickly entered. Why most places only put Cameras around the main entrances and exits he didn't know but they were sure making his job far easier doing so.

Ahead of them was a large number different panels and a whole mess of conduit and wires running everywhere. Hopefully, they would be able to find some way to disable the camera systems or the alarms form this area.

"Look around for a control panel that would control the camera electrical systems or a panel for the alarms."

They started searching the area with him looking at stuff on the right and her checking the left.

"John, I think this might be what you want."

He came over to where she was standing and chuckled. The panel was labeled 'alarm control unit' and next to it was a panel that read 'Security systems primary and backup power breakers'. If that wasn't good enough they had enclosed in a nearby three ring binder with diagrams that showed how the whole system worked. He handed the book to Cameron.

"Take a look at this information. See if it provides enough information to disable the alarms and cameras."

He watched her quickly turn every page in the binder and then she opened up both panels and quickly scanned over them.

"It does. All of the security systems can be disabled from here."

"This is almost too easy. No wonder Skynet was able to take over. Go ahead and do it."

She reached in and flipped several breakers and used a pair of wire cutters to snip several of the jumper wires in the alarm box. A few lights went out and then she turned to him and said, "All done."

"Great. Break the tops of the switches on the breakers you changed so that they can't turn them back on quickly."

Once that was done they quickly exited the building and made their way to the back side of a nearby building and hid in the shadows. It was a bit dark so Cameron was leading the way. They waited there for a little bit looking for the security teams that would start to patrol trying to figure out just what in the heck was going on with their systems.

It wasn't long before Cameron tapped his shoulder and pointed. He followed her finger and saw a group of five armed guards heading out to the main gate.

The building they wanted to get into was about 200 yards away from their current position and would require them to move across an open area with almost no cover. John wanted the guards to start moving around checking the security systems so that they could figure out how many were present.

"How many does it look like we have in total?"

"About twelve moving around, but I suspect there are more present in the building."

"Possible, but it is time to move onto the second phase."

John pulled out a prepaid cell phone he had purchased during day and dialed in a number. He let it ring away and waited.

It wasn't long before he heard shouting at the front gate as the car they had stolen for this particular purpose crashed right into the front gate. He had rigged up another cell phone to disengage the breaks and let the car roll down the hill and into the front gate. Cameron had take care of aim the car and her aim was right on target.

"Good job," he told her and felt a squeeze from her hand in response.

Several other guards had taken off running to the front gate and that was their signal to move to the storage building. The rain made the run a miserable experience and he almost fell down several times and was very glad that Cameron helped steady him each time.

The guards were starting to go nuts running all over the place, which he was expecting, but there were running out of time. They moved around the building a bit until Cameron signaled she had found a good spot.

He nodded to her and she punched a hole through the building's sheet metal exterior and quickly ripped a hole big enough for them to enter through.

Once inside John was amazed by the huge amount of stuff present. The two rows near them were made out of large shelving that stood about twenty five tall and where filled all the way to the top with various creates and boxes. Unfortunately, they didn't have any wording on the outside in big bold letters pointing them to what they wanted.

"Well, I guess it couldn't be too easy now could it?"

"John I don't entirely understand."

"I know and I will explain it later. Right now we need to look for inventory number X655-381T-01 as that will hold the body armor."

He grabbed Cameron's hand and just followed along with her as she was the only hope of finding that number quickly. The biggest problem they were facing right now was time. Those guards no doubt radioed in for backup and it was soon on its way. They needed to be out of here before they showed up.

Cameron stopped quickly and John knew that it had to be someone close by. She tuned to look at him and he nodded to her.

She moved very quickly behind the guy and once he was within her striking distance she knocked him out. She grabbed him and easily put him behind several different crates. Once she was finished she returned to John and took his hand. They set off again searching for the needed crate.

"John I found it."

He looked to where she was pointing and it was a box on the floor just up ahead.

"Wonderful. Any other problems present?"

"No."

They headed over to the create and Cameron quickly opened it. Inside was exactly what he was looking for and it was as light as the web page had said. John quickly put on a set for himself and found one for Cameron and tossed it to her to put on.

"John, I don't need to wear something like this."

"I know but it will be easier to wear one and carry a few others than try to carry them all."

"I understand."

They got back outside the warehouse and noticed that two new vehicles where at the front gate, no doubt backup had arrived. Time to implement the third phase of the plan. John again used his cell phone and dialed another number and waited a little bit.

The car that had rolled into the main gate a while ago started up. Several of the guards backed up but the car just sat there running. They called over several others.

Perfect thought John. He dialed another number and a few other cars up on the hill started up with their lights on. The guards where very nervous and started calling for backup at the front gate to deal with the perceived threat.

Once their attention was fully focused on things ahead of them John and Cameron made the run back to where they came in. It didn't take them very long and soon they were out of the gate and walking the half mile back to their car.

"That went perfectly. What do you think?"

"There were no unexpected problems other than the rain."

"Yea, but it also proved useful because it limited their ability to see us moving."

Cameron stopped walking and started looking around.

"What it is?", he asked thinking the worst.

"I don't know. It is a strange sort of sound."

John focused his ears and listened hard expecting almost anything when he suddenly heard it. It wasn't the sound of some new enemy but he knew exactly what it was.

"Cameron where is it coming from?"

She indicated and he began walking over to it.

"Wait John, I don't know what kind of threat it is yet."

"Don't worry because it isn't a threat."

It didn't take him long with Cameron helping to pin-point the source before he was able to see it. One the ground covered in mud and alone was a small kitten. It must have gotten washed out of its mother's nest and was now all alone. John reached down and picked it up.

"John what is it?"

"It's a kitten and your new pet."

He loosened his shirt and slipped the kitten inside his shirt placing it on his skin. He knew that it needed to be kept warm and was most likely in bad shape with the water.

"Pet? I don't understand why a pet would be useful."

"You will. Now lets get back home."

* * *

Sarah was on pins and needles the whole time John and Cameron where gone. John had convinced her to stay and let him take care of it by himself. He claimed that two people would be able to do it faster and easier than three people. She tried to argue back by saying that one would be much better than two so they should just send Cameron. He flatly rejected it and told her that Cameron and him must always stay together and he refused to budge on the matter.

Her worrying had started as soon as he was out the door and had gotten worse with every passing minute. So, when she saw the car pull in she flew out of the house expecting something horrible to have happened.

"John are you ok? Did you get hurt? Is anyone chasing you? Cameron give me a full..."

"Mom! Whoa, just settle down. Everything is fine and we didn't have any trouble so lets get inside before people think you are nuts with the twenty questions thing."

Sarah followed John and Cameron inside and had them take off their boots at the entryway to prevent mud from being tracked all over the house.

As John tossed what he was carrying down he reached up under his shirt and pull out something. It was very dirty but it was a small kitten.

"John where did you find that?"

"On the way back. It was all by itself and would have died if I hadn't taken it home with us."

"John you know that keeping a pet is very hard for us so I want you to find it a good home after you have it all cleaned up."

"Mom we can keep it. Besides Cameron is rather attached to it."

Sarah looked over at Cameron who had a very confused expression on her face and knew that she didn't know what to make of all this.

"Alright, I will let you two keep it. However, if things get ugly around here I want you to find it a good home. Deal?"

"Yea."

* * *

**Notes:** I had wanted to get the major fight between the new T-888 in the chapter but it was going to be far too long for that so I am pushing it to the next chapter. Also, I know the last chapter had some odd grammar problems so I tired to fix it up as best I could. It is a really bad idea to try and write with a large number of interrupts going on so sorry about that. I usually go over things about five times before putting it out there but I always seem to miss something. Hopefully this one isn't very bad.


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